Nothing is constant, except change.

That is what I have been told since I began dating the Army 12 years ago. We marry it. We move with it. We have children with it. It deploys our hearts. It kills our minds - or maybe that was the adult beverages we drank to deal with the changes. It brings sweet soldiers home. It causes chaos and adventure all in the same moment.

For me, change is both frightening and exciting and I try my best to embrace it.

Sweet soldier has transitioned to a new job and that means a new role for me. I’m learning from friends and mentors how to welcome senior spouses into our unit properly and how to warmly welcome and mentor junior spouses. I hope to learn how to better assist the leaders of our unit in supporting families and soldiers.

My children are also changing and that is frightening and exciting too. Oldest sweet boy will begin his final year in elementary school in the fall. Sweet girl wants to take on some new activities. And littlest sweet boy will continue to learn to negotiate life on his own terms.

The fact that the Army is changing is probably the most frightening and exciting. When I began to date my soldier and thus, the Army, it was pre-9/11. He had long hours as the executive officer of a training battalion, but the only real danger was that some new recruit would accidentally discharge his weapon in the wrong direction at the range.

We married post-9/11 and our lives have been excitingly chaotic ever since. With the thought of deployments winding down, as troops are withdrawn from the battlefield, my fear surfaced. We have spent over half of our marriage apart. Can we learn to be a family unit as we transition back to an Army family not living under the cloud of the next deployment?

As I began to ponder what my Army life would become, I kept going back to two key points. First, we have to learn to deal with finances as a couple and not wait for the next deployment. Second, we as a family have to learn to be a team - even if it kills us. Once those two items are mastered, everything else will either fall into place or not seem so big.

I hope you will continue to listen to the Soundtrack of My Life. You have no idea how much of an encouragement it is to me to hear from you and to give and receive support. We are always stronger together than we are apart.

I also hope that you will follow my fellow bloggers Brittany and Rebecca as they journey through their deployments. Give them the Strength and Courage that we have shared over the last year.

Thank you for your Strength and Courage ... sby