It will all be over … sooner than you THINK!
In this military life, we’re all accustomed to hurry up and wait. It’s our version of normal, even (maybe especially) when it drives us crazy. But what happens when hurry up and wait becomes hurry up and wait… to the abrupt end?
That’s my current status … the abrupt end.
Over the many years of my spouse’s career, we’ve been hurried, then waited endlessly for our next assignment, only to be hurried up again to move. And yet, somehow, we’re now at the end of our military road.
I always knew it was out there, that place beyond military life and its hurry up and wait. But now that it’s here, I’m shocked by its arrival and feel a little unprepared for this next step. I’ve waited and wished for it for so long, and now I’m sad. I’m going to miss it—and I didn’t expect that at all.
I’ve been warning my husband since the fifteen-year mark that it was time to start “getting ready” for retirement. I knew what that should look like. After all, I work with transitioning military members, Veterans, and military spouses. I could recite resume tips and job interview questions in my sleep.
But my husband was busy, the military didn’t make time. He was surrounded by the pressures of the daily grind, deploying, and trying to get to his next promotion. Retirement planning seemed like something that could wait until later. After all, doesn’t retirement mean the beginning of more time to think, to get things done? To his mind, the most urgent matters needed to come first. And if there’s one thing the military knows how to do well, it’s urgency.
By Amy Rossi