Y’all ever wondered why the stars aligned one way over another? I do now more than ever before. As military spouses, we have highs and lows, career-wise. I find myself in the phase of life where the saying, “When one door closes, a window opens,” is relevant. While I prefer the saying, “When one door closes, another one opens,” a window will do.
When I was a little girl, I had dreams of what I would grow up to be professionally. Those hopes and dreams ranged from a professional athlete to a doctor. Each of those ideas became irrelevant to either an injury or the realization that I would be in school forever. Somehow, I found myself married to a sailor, planning for our second child, with no clear-cut career path in sight. I know I am not the first military spouse — and I won’t be the last — to be unsure where their career will lead them.
I have been fortunate in our last two duty stations to have found jobs that not only paid our bills but also brought me joy. You can only imagine how I felt when I received notice that my company was downsizing, and my position was being eliminated. I honestly could not believe it. I suddenly found myself at a crossroads. Do I go back to working at a place that does not support my family’s current lifestyle or do I take a leap of faith and bet on myself? It’s different when your side job is a hobby that you hope one day will become your main gig. Then you wake up one day and realize that today is the day to jump in, feet first, and bet on yourself.
Life closed a door on me but left a window open on the second floor of the house. Everything in me wants to climb through that open window and live the life I want for my family. As a mom of three, I know that infancy, toddlerhood, and childhood all go by in the blink of an eye. I remember the first time I held my son and just stared at him in disbelief. I feel as though I closed my eyes, counted to five, and the next thing I knew, he was 15 years old. The same is true for my middle and youngest children. How do I not have any babies anymore, y’all? The time goes by so fast, and I want to stop and be present for all of it. I want school field trips, cafeteria lunches and midday awards assemblies. I want to make dinner together and do bed and bath time. I want to read a book that has all the character noises.
As I write this, I am talking myself more and more into climbing through the window into the unknown and taking that chance on myself. I realize I must be 10 toes down for myself because no one will ever believe in me more than well… me, right? In the year 2022, I told my husband I wanted to start a blog, and I did that. Now I want to provide lactation services to military families full time, and that is what I am going to do. I speak it into existence.
With 2024 come new life opportunities. I’m going to buy into the New Year’s resolution and just go for it. The best part of this is that my future could be filled with doing a job every day that I love on my terms. I invite you all to join me in a toast to, you guessed it, us. To the MilSpouse, who had a door to one possibility closed on them but found another to walk through. To the one who climbed their way through that window and stepped into the unknown. To the ones living in their dreams, the ones who are working towards their happiness and all the ones in between.
P.S. Cross your fingers for your girl; scared and nervous don’t do what I’m feeling justice (lol). I’m so excited about all the possibilities. Cheers to us, y’all.
