A sisterhood.

When I first started dating Derek (way back when), I had no idea that I was about to enter into one of the oldest, most respected, and well-known sisterhoods ever known to man: the sisterhood of military spouses and significant others.

I joined this sisterhood unknowingly. I was a newbie, learning along the way that this was truly what real sisterhood was like: not everyone got along, there were girls who were looked down on, women who were looked up to, and girls just trying to find their way through the loneliness that is the majority of our life.

Over time I learned more than I ever needed to know (and often more than I cared to know) about what being a part of this sisterhood entails… It means putting up with a lot of nonsense and being subjected to even more - it's like a mini “hazing” where you start out a girlfriend, you become a fiance, and then you finally graduate and become a wife. It's a process, one that I'm proud to say that I've gone through; I may not be a seasoned wife, but I'm also not that green anymore. 

This sisterhood is not for the weak and it is not for the wishy-washy because it is strenuous, tiring, frustrating, catty, drama consumed, and complicated. I promise you, you will end up hating someone for the stupidest possible reason and, I guarantee, you will probably have some sort of animosity towards the other branches. (Friendly competition, eh?) These things come with the turf of being a military spouse or significant other.

Do we respect each other all the time? Nope.

Is everything always understood between all of us? Definitely not.

Is there always some sort of drama happening? Absolutely.

But we are a sisterhood, known by many, and understood by few.

Heck, we hardly understand each other, but we make the most of it and we stand by each other in times of need. That's the one thing that I've learned about this amazing, crazy, sisterhood: no matter who we are or where we're from, when we come together we are a force to be reckoned with.

We are the women that all other women dream of being. We are strong and proud and we deal with the unforgiving cruelty of military life. Nothing in our lives is lined with silver and nothing in our lives comes easily - we end up jealously resenting our friends who have their spouses or significant others with them all the time (not because we actually resent them, but because we wish we had that too). The only thing that outweighs that horrible feeling of resent is the pride we have in our men. They are the men that other men dream of being, the same way we are the women other women dream of being.

We are a sisterhood.

We deal with distance, time, war, and (worst of all) the military. We learn how to be patient when orders change and how to draw the line when one of our fellow spouses get out of line. We know all the acronyms and jargon, yet we keep ourselves safely on periphery of the military lifestyle to avoid the title “motard”. We learn how to keep our mouths shut and our emotions on reserve, and how to give support when it is asked for.

This sisterhood is incredible. This sisterhood is what keeps the majority of us sane through training, deployment, and beyond. This sisterhood is the saving-grace for many of us, even though we're too stubborn to admit it. This sisterhood is one that many know but it is one that few will join. whether we chose this for ourselves or not, when our spouse or significant other joins the brotherhood of the military, we suddenly find ourselves shoved into a sisterhood of spouses and significant others.

And that's something to be proud of.