My "Marine Wife" Experience

 

I thought this would be a fun link up that Mal Smiles and The Samantha Show created since I'm a relatively new military wife, and I'm starting to hear some of the stereotypes more and more. Anyways, I'm Morgan, and I have been a "Marine wife" for almost 7 months. However, I started dating my husband as a high school senior. Even back then he told me he would be joining the Marines and I shrugged it off because I didn't think it would ever really impact me. Well,  I was wrong. Here I am nearly 7  years later and we are married.

He did ROTC at Texas A&M University, where I also went to school, and then commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in May 2012. After that, he went to TBS (The Basic School) and IOC ( Infantry Officer's Course) in Quantico, VA. We got married just before we moved to Jacksonville, NC.

Corps of Cadets days:

After his commissioning:

The one thing I wish people knew about military spouses is that we are really just like everyone else. Many of us don't let our husband's job or rank define who we are. Before my husband deployed, the military didn't really impact my day to day life. Now it does in the sense that my husband is overseas, but that's really the extent of it. We also don't all have kids young. My husband and I are waiting for another few years to enjoy married life before we decide to start a family, but it really annoys me when (even other military couples do this) everyone assumes we will want to start a family ASAP. Granted, being in a town with tons of babies does bring on the baby fever, but we both agree it is best to wait. Plus, I haven't figured out how I can keep my job working full time and be a mother. Until then, I want to enjoy my husband and travel/explore the East coast as much as possible after he returns from deployment!


Have a Happy Thursday!

 

My First Care Package - Valentine's Day

The day my husband left I was pretty upset, so I decided I would go ahead and get started on his first care package.  My husband is on a base a good amount of his deployment. He does go for about a month at a time on missions, where he doesn't have access to a base, but for the most part he doesn't "need" anything. The care packages are more for fun and to let him get a little something from home in the mail.

For this care package I actually used wrapping paper and scrap booking paper. The wrapping paper is the shinier red paper with the uniform hearts. The scrap booking paper is the multi-colored/shaped hearts. I wanted to try two different methods to see what I like better. Going forward, I have continued to use scrap booking paper exclusively just because there are more options to pick from and it doesn't rip as easily.

 

I used the typical Pinterest idea and put a little cheesy tag on a bunch of items I was sending him.

  My husband really likes airheads, so I found a set of Valentine's that included airheads. I wrote a little message on each one. Each message was something I love about him, or miss about him, etc.

 I also like to include a hand written note, card, or something along those lines. Even though we do communicate on a pretty regular basis, I think it is something sweet to always include especially since it is handwritten.

As you can see, I like to include personal pictures on the flaps of the box. I think it's a fun way to send pictures to him. I am pretty sure that this box sat for two weeks waiting for him while he was on a mission, so I try not to ever pack anything home baked just because I know his schedule varies and I don't want him to open his package to find gross cookies or something.

NOTE: You can order bundles of the flat rate boxes (they cost about $14/$15 to ship) for care packages through the USPS website. They are FREE and are also delivered to your home FREE.  In my opinion, I will do just about anything to avoid the post office! I also like to have my customs form filled out before going to the post office to save time, so each time I go to mail a box I normally pick up 2 or 3 blank forms.