Hate is such a strong word.

If there is one thing I'm not, it's a whiner. Except when I'm sick but that doesn't count. You will never hear me say I hate the Navy or hate my husbands job. It's just not me.

But I see this a lot.

I'm not saying it's wrong by any means I just think about it a lot differently then most.

The Navy. How could I hate something that has given me everything? Justin and I married young. Really young. Our family started before we were ready, and while Justin had a good job, it wasn't one that could provide us with everything we needed. We were paying almost $400 a month for health insurance and we still paid thousands out of pocket when we had Landon. We were living with my parents and had hopes of moving out, but not knowing when that would happen. The navy changed that. We want for nothing.

The Boat. This I don't really understand. What did the boat do? Haha it moves when told and breaks when told not to. Every boat does this. The people on it are human they can't always be nice and Navy's needs come before family ones. While I don't like playing second fiddle, I have to understand that a military job is not a normal one. We knew this going in. I KNEW this going in. I don't like when he comes home after 9pm every night for a week. But me bitching about it will solve nothing. I just smile and ask if he needs anything. If I think him being at work late is hard, I need to stop and think about how it is for him. I can't imagine working that many hours and not getting a break(aside from being a stay-at-home mom).

Deployment. While I hate my husband being gone, hate being alone, hate being a single mother and hate not knowing what he is doing and when he is coming home. I know that what he does is amazing. He is out there fighting. Someone has to do it and I'm proud that my husband is one of them. The sleepless nights and sporadic tears are nothing compared to the pride I feel. I fell lucky to be married to a sailor even if he's never home.

Tricare. For no-military folk, this is our insurance. While most think it's free, it's not. We pay, just not much. You can choose 2 options. I won't go far into them but the one we have is....we use military facilities, no co-pays, free prescriptions and really no added costs at all. Maybe it's because I have had other insurance that gave us the run around and made us pay way too much. But for us tricare is great. I always get in right away and have never had a snippy person to deal with. I think some (not all) take for granted that we are lucky to have this option. But I will add that some people have had some crappy experiences with them (Jenn, you have every right to hate them all you want!). But I feel lucky to know we are taken care of and we won't be blind-sided by a bill a few months later.


Maybe I'm just a glass half-full kinda gal. But I think sometimes people need to stop and think before they go off and HATE something that is giving them so much. I feel so blessed to know that we are taken care of everyday, even more so with the current job market the way it is.