Happy New Year! I hope everyone had the most wonderful Christmas and New Years. After a little break, it feels so good to be here in this lovely little corner of the web, and I can't wait to share about where we have been and what we have been up to recently in the next few weeks!

I know I am not the only one who has been thinking a lot in the past few days about some goals for 2015. One of my biggest blogging goals is to share more here on the Gallivant about the Navy aspect of our life and marriage. Part of this is spurred on by the fact that as I have been reflecting back on our first year of marriage (Anniversary post coming soon!) I have been thinking a lot on being a Navy wife. While being a milspouse is a large part of why I started this blog, I don't write about it that often, partially because there are many days where I don't feel like a milspouse. No one in my immediate family was in the military, so John was my first introduction to this lifestyle. Even though we have been together for almost 5 years, I am still learning military lingo, and being a spouse is a whole new learning curve. I think most of my hesitation in calling myself, confidently, a Navy wife, though, comes from the fact that we have not yet weathered that big looming and impending thing that is deployment. Such is that nature of the Aviation track--Pilots have to go through 2.5 to 3 years of training before they are deployable, as opposed to something like Surface Warfare, who are deployable almost immediately. This has been wonderful for our marriage, because we, unlike some military couples, have been able to spend great quality time together in our first year. That being said, sometimes when I chat with older wives about their experience in the military, I can't help but think about how they have spent long period of their marriage separated from their husbands, they have raised and maybe even delivered children alone--they have earned the title of milspouse, and I am not there yet.

But then I remember that this is not a badge that I can earn, it is just a fact and part of our life. And despite the fact that John has not deployed yet, my life and our marriage does look different than our civilian friends and loved ones. We shop at the commissary, we often can't plan more than a day ahead, our schedules change on a dime, we have no idea where we will be in a year....etc. While our lifestyle comes with some frustrations (whose life/career doesn't?), it also comes with an incredible community, friends, and opportunities. Over and over again we have seen God work in it in the past year. Someone said to John recently in a grocery store in Massachusetts, "Oh, you are in the Navy? I feel so bad for people in the military." The comment was ignorant, but came from a place of what I believe was simple (and common) misunderstanding. Our life looks a little different from our civilian friends and loved ones, but we wouldn't trade it. John dreamt of serving his country, felt led here, and I along with him.

So, I hope to share more this year about what our life in the military looks like, in small ways and large. I hope this serves two purposes: 1) To help our civilian friends and loved ones (many of whom, like me, have no previous connection to the military) understand military life a bit more, and 2) To connect and relate with readers who are in the military and share encouragement. I have been so blessed and encouraged by more seasoned milspouses who have shared their perspective, (I read one of my favorite blogs, Tulips & Flight Suits, from start to finish when I first moved to Pensacola, and learned so much from Mary in the process) and I hope that this is a place that can in turn encourage others who are learning to navigate this lifestyle.

With this in mind, I would love to ask you, my lovely readers: Are there any particular questions that you have that you would like to see discussed here on The Gallivant pertaining to flight school or military life? The Gallivant is not turning into a military blog, but it is part of our lifestyle so I would love to talk about it a bit more--maybe around 1 post a month. I would love to hear your thoughts and any questions you may have, so feel free to either comment below, contact me through the contact form at the top of the page, or email me directly at gallivantblog@gmail.com.

As always, thank you so much for reading. Cheers to all that 2015 has in store.

xoxo,

Emily

P.S. Here are a few of my Navy related posts from the past year: