There was a time in my life when I felt called to teach. In college, I struggled with what I wanted to do when I "grew up." I had a rough year during my sophomore year and I wasn't sure teaching was for me. I put it all in God's hands when it came time to do all those crazy tests to become a teacher. I knew that if I passed, teaching it was going to be. Well, I passed and I continued with the teaching degree. Fast forward a couple years.
I was living in NC with Joe, and we'd been married just a short time. He'd found a job working for a local company that did IT for restaurants. I was still working at Chili's as a hostess. Teaching jobs were scarce and I tried really hard to get my foot in the door by substituting. Even that didn't work. I didn't get enough calls to allow me to quit working at Chili's as badly as I wanted to. 4 months later, Joe was laid off. I kept working at Chili's, trying to pay the bills as best I could. Enter the Army. The Army took Joe for a while and I stuck with good 'ole Chili's. When I was finally able to move down to GA (where he had his AIT), I quit.
That's when I stopped working. For a while it was boring, but it's also been fulfilling. At least while my husband has been home. I still think that God called me to get that teaching degree, but did He really call me to actually be a teacher? As a wife, I'm called to serve my husband (Proverbs 31). Not serve in the sense that most people think, but serve in the sense that I am to be a blessing to him. I'm to support him in however he decides to provide for our family. I'm to help him succeed in his job. If that means having dinner on the table at 1800, then so be it. If that means washing those darned ACU's, so be it. If that means becoming an Army wife in every sense of the word, so be it.
Would I still like to be a teacher? Sure. Do I need to be a teacher or have a career to feel like I'm more important, more me? No. I don't think I realized it before, but I think that on the day I met Joe, I was called to be his wife. It's the one thing that I am really good at. I'm not saying I know everything there is to know about the man, but I know him better than anyone else. Even before we were a military couple, I was "translating" for him. Not everyone "gets" my husband. But, I do. I know the way his mind works, and that's not always a good thing. ;-) I know that he forgets just about everything he hears, and that I may need to remind him to do something a time or two. I know that when we're in the car - sans GPS - that I will be "the navigator." I know that he takes his phone, wallet and keys out of his jeans pockets every time he sits down because it just bugs him. I know his favorite foods and his favorite movies. I know that he's a darn good musician and lyricist. I know he's silly and incredibly corny.
I believe that one day {hopefully soon}, God will call me to be a mother and a wife. And when He blesses me with babies that are a combination of the two of us, I will gladly stay home to teach my children (which doesn't necessarily mean homeschool), watch them grow and I will continue to be a blessing to my husband. But, until God calls me to be something other than a wife and volunteer at the museum on post, I'll stay where I am.
I love every. single. minute. of being G.I. Joe's Wife.
