An Army Wife.

In my quest for any tidbits of Bamberg information I can gather, I came across several Army Wives blogs.
Some of them who live in Bamberg, some who live in Ohio.
Apparently there is an entire network of women who blog about being an Army Wife.

I decided to read some blogs, get a feel for overseas living. After all, my husband is in the army, so I figured, Hey!we probably have some things in comman.
And, After reading a few blogs Turns out, probably not. I don't have 6 kids whoall  have runny diarrhea or use sharpies on the family dog. In fact, I don't even have a family dog. I don't have one kid let along 6. I don't scrapbook. I don't bunco, or bingo, or book club.

One blog in particular made me realize, some people just refuse to be happy. Her Army Wife blog was a lament. She was bickering with her husband.
She was dealing with a teething child.
She was bickering with her husband again.
She was wanting to go to Bunco but her kid was struck with a case of constipation and it was hold down the fort and bunker down for the event.
She was FIGHTING with her husband.
She was happy her pamper chef was on it's way, but sad that she spent the money when she should've saved it up for decoupage class..

And I realized, I don't think of myself as an Army Wife. I think of myself of Michael's Wife. A woman who just so happens to be married to a man whose job being a soldier. That doesn't make me his rank, and I don't feel the need to toss around military jargon in order to impress other Army Wives at the weekly swap meet.

Maybe they do, but, I don't recall women who marry men of other professions riding the coattails of their husband's job (Well, except for maybe Michelle Obama...I'm the President's Wife.)
But seriously, I've yet to see a tv shows, tshirts, or blogs entitled:

Insurance Agent Wife
Custodian Wife
Garbage Pick up Wife
Fork Lift Driver Wife

Having said that, I am intensely PROUD of my husband. I am proud to be his wife. I'm proud of his accomplishments, his work ethic, his many many sacrifices. I am honored to be his wife. I love him so profoundly, so completely. I support him in everything he chooses to do. My respect for him is boundless. He is a beautiful wonderful man.
 I know his job is all encompassing. It determines where we live and how we live. I am thankful that he has a job to go to everyday. That it's not just a 'job' but a career.
But, I took a vow to Michael to go where ever he goes. To love him all the days of my life, in sickness and in health until I die.
I married the man, not his career.
Maybe it seems bizarre for me to say that, and yes, the army does effect my life. It effects my life right now. While I am finishing up our life in Maryland, he is starting our life in Bamberg.
It's not convient. It's not fun. It's just formality.

So I worry, with my perspective, I won't fit in with Army Wives.
 I worry my hobbies aren't the same.
 I don't know how to decoupage, or die cut.
I won't have a baby on the way, one on the hip and one tearing through the swap meet like a maniac off his ritalin.
So I worry about fitting in with the other spouses.
I feel, again, like a new kid in school with no one to sit with at lunch time.

I am in no way reluctant to call myself an Army Wife. I just would like to know what it truly means first. Is it the persona that I've seen at the commissary, at the craft shop, in the network of blogs I discovered? Or is it something else entirely?

Is being an army wife just making awesome scrapbooks for your husband and children?
Or is it being there to support your husband regardless?
Or is it whatever you wish to make it?