Tuesday, October 4, 2011

It really is like army wives...and sallie mae has come a knockin'

I finally feel like a grown up. Sallie Mae knows that I'm done with school and with it student loans go into repayment. I'm probably going to be paying 300-400 a month in student loans. I've been visiting the Sallie Mae website everyday. It is on its way to be coming my most visited site.

In other news, my fiance is home! I got onto post on Friday night at 7pm which is when we were told to go to the battery. The troops finally arrived there at 9:30. I didn't really mind the wait though because 1. I had nothing better to do than wait. 2. I got to speak with some wives that were really nice in his unit. I hadn't really talked or met anyone in FRG really so it was nice to meet some of the wives. It was only a tiny bit awkward at one point. We had spent two and a half hours talking about pretty much everything. Then one of the wives said that she doesn't really go to FRG meetings because her husband doesn't want her to be around officer wives. The other wives said that they can be snobby and wear their husbands rank and always have coach purses.. It was at that point that I said "Well my fiance is an officer but I promise I'm not mean." I decided that it was better to say something than not say something and them to find out. Especially...since my fiance is second in command of his battery and he was actually acting commander of the battery because the Battery Commander's child was born during that time. They were like "Oh you didn't seem like one."

I want to be completely honest right now so as not to get the wrong impression. I wasn't angry or annoyed or offended or hurt in any way. It's life. And you know what...my dad was an enlisted NCO in the national guard for 30 years. He sacrificed and put me and my brother and sister through private school for 13 years on a very small salary. I have nothing but respect for enlisted soldiers. I don't believe in this whole- I won't talk to you because my husband is this or that. I got to see S and I had totally put the whole situation out of my head almost instantly until today. When S got home he said that one of his soldiers came up to him and said his wife wanted to apologize to me. She didn't realize that I was S's fiance. S told him not to worry about it and that I honestly didn't mind or care.

It's just crazy to think that someone was so nervous that they offended me that they had to apologize to their "boss." I mean I appreciate it but no apology was needed. I just want to be Lauren, not ma'am or Mrs. _____ or Mrs. Lieutenant_______. I really hope that they won't be standoffish next time I see them. I just want friends. I don't care who your husband is or how much their pay grade is. I hope that they are able to see that. Also, the only coach purses that I own were bought waay before I was even dating S. :p I just don't want to be treated differently.

One last thing-S and I have discussed splitting some of the bills. I'm actually going to be able to make my budget now! Stay tuned for my pitiful wages. :p But hey...they pay the bills. :)

4 comments:

  1. Congrats that he's home! And that must have been awkward in that conversation with the other wives.

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  2. Good for your for speaking up. There have been similar times for me in conversation where a group of people (of which a loved one is one) are talked about negatively, and I haven't spoken up. I hope you're able to find some fast friends in your new surroundings. :)

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  3. Google won't let me comment under my name for some reason..grr.

    Thank you for both of your comments. It was slightly awkward but I didn't want it to become an even more awkward conversation later on. I'm still just going to continue to be myself. In the end it isn't about what you have or the vacations you took, or the type of education you were able to receive, but who you were as a person. As long as I can continue to look into the mirror and see the person that I hope others people see in me-that's all that matters.

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  4. I randomly found your blog here, and I felt I should comment on something for you here.

    First, congrats on getting married. :) Welcome to military wife life.

    But mostly I wanted to say that there's a reason the enlisted wives won't really want to befriend you. While I get that you don't care, and neither should they, it generally goes that you'd want to hang out and have your husbands hang out.

    Well, that's not exactly a good idea to mix enlisted and officer. Even if it's not, it could be seen as fraternization and that is extremely bad for both parties. It's just easier to leave it alone and not bother, which is weird and/or sucks but it's how the military is.

    I kinda wanted to pipe up about it before you wonder what their issues are or take it personally. (Though I can say too that part of it comes from knowing what officers make, and it's ridiculous compared to what enlisteds make.)

    Good luck with everything! Like I said, I felt compelled to share some insight. My time spent as a wife ought to mean something after all. :)

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