I was only 20 years old when I got married. I was young and thought, even though we didn’t have a solid plan for the future, we had time and things would just find a way of working out. However, as with life, and especially life in the military, things didn’t happen like we think they will.

I always wanted to run my own craft store and enjoy my days painting and sewing. But when I said “I do” to my husband, I gave up the possibility to have my own brick and mortar business. I decided to follow his career wherever it took us, supporting him along the way with all the twists and turns, and more times than not, abrupt U-turns and walls.

As the years passed, my career and passions became a distant thought; superseded by motherhood, housework, and general life. I never gave it much thought—this was life, and I needed to love and cherish the good along with the bad.