Get Acquainted with Angie

Have you ever had a caricature of yourself made? I’ve had two caricatures so far in my life and think they’re so fun with the little details the artists pick up on.

The second one still hangs in my best friend’s parents’ home since we are both in the drawing. Actually, we are identical in the drawing, except the artist gave me sideburns. There’s a detail, all right. Wow. Let’s chalk it up to that it was windy and my hair may have been a mess!

The other caricature had all these little details of me, and it was just me in the drawing. I wish I still had it to share a snapshot. There I am, gigantic smile on my cartoon face, inside a stadium of some sort, wearing pink pants with ladybugs all over them, a jersey that says “22,” and a trophy in my hand while the imaginary crowd cheers–“Angie! Angie! Angie!” That was made in high school when I was a cross country and track runner who loved ladybugs. No reason, I just did and still do. Lucky little ladies.

If I sat down for an updated caricature today, I imagine it would still be a fun experience and a glorious work of art to display thereafter. I’m a details girl, though, and I know the details in the new drawing would be different. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be in the middle of a stadium. Maybe an office, classroom, or chilling at the beach with a book in hand.

There would, however, be someone cheering me on through whatever it is I might be pictured doing in the little cartoon. He’s my husband, affectionately called “Husband,” or “Team,” or some combination of the two words. Part of the great details in my updated imaginary caricature are his details. I count myself lucky to be part of this team. He calls me “Wife,” or “Team,” and we love to say, “Go Team!”

Sometimes, you need to root for yourselves. In addition to being his wife and half his team, I’m his military spouse. I’m honored to be so.

We’ve been on our amazing team adventure for almost seven years — as husband and wife for almost five years. When we were dating, I was intimidated by the large military base where he was stationed, and I thought he was the most familiar stranger I ever met. Two months after meeting, he deployed to Afghanistan for six months, and I got a pretty realistic taste of military life.

Even then, only two months in, just getting to know him, I didn’t say goodbye. I said, “I’m so glad I met you!” Then probably something extremely terrible and awkward on par with, “Don’t get blown up or anything.” Well, thank goodness he didn’t, and he came home to me and here we are, our details getting more and more intertwined along the way.

He’s just had his ninth Army birthday (I think it’s adorable that he refers to his enlistment anniversary that way!) and he has also signed his next reenlistment contract.

Together we’ve lived in three states during our just-shy-of-five-years marriage. We’ve been fortunate that he hasn’t needed to deploy or be away for such a long time as he did when we were dating. Our longest spans apart have been two six-week schools he needed for training.

Any amount of time apart is still hard, but this is all part of our details. Time apart can force this “details girl” to cherish some of her own individual details.

In coining myself as a details girl, I really want to emphasize that I believe details are important and special.

As such, besides however an artist might depict me as a military spouse, there are some other details that would be in my new drawing.

There would be two cat-shaped children, almost identical except for their eyebrow whiskers. My baby cats are 10 years old now, and I adore them. I do have puppy fever, hardcore puppy fever, but that’s for some other day, some other drawing.

I bet you I would be holding a cup of tea in my new picture, but you might not notice my love-hate relationship with caffeine at first glance. Besides my husband cheering me on, maybe there’s people yelling “Welcome to Moe’s!” because every girl needs her favorite food. There’d be a couple of hilarious older folks, whom I love, fumbling their way to me through a Skype screen or WhatsApp video chat. (Here’s to you, Mom and Dad!)

Maybe there’d even be a map in the background of all the loved and missed family we’ve scattered away from—I love the details of my new extended family on my husband’s side. So precious, so wonderful.

There’d still be a ladybug, maybe the one tattooed on my foot, bringing luck all around. I’d still have a gigantic smile (but let’s hope no sideburns!). Lastly, maybe there’d be a caption, thought, or speech bubble, and it’d read “Hi! I’m Angie, and I’m so happy to meet you here through Army Wife Network.”

I really can’t wait to see how my adventures here with you in the blogosphere pan out. With my background in education, I have such high hopes for writing, learning, and hopefully sharing meaningful military spouse lessons I’ve learned with you.

It’s my pleasure to be here as a part of this community, and I do hope to connect with you all. I’ve set up my first Twitter account if you want to say hi to the lady in the imaginary caricature. Until then, “Go Team!”