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As an active duty military spouse for over 14 years, I have learned to speak up.  We have moved 9 times and experienced 2 deployments.  I have enjoyed getting to live in many different parts of the country and meeting many wonderful new people.  However, the life of a military spouse can be challenging to say the least, and the source of much resentment  and strife for many military couples.  I have had my frustrating moments,  for example discovering your luggage, which contained the one and only swimsuit you felt pretty wearing, fell off the top of your minivan somewhere in no-where Ohio never to be seen again, but “miraculously” the cat’s litter box somehow stayed attached to the roof.  During the journey with the military, I have found my voice as a spouse, a mother, and an U.S. citizen.  I have learned accepting help can be as rewarding as giving and the kindness of strangers has reminded me humbly of our shared humanity.  I have, through much reflection (and a good therapist), found thankfulness for the challenges which have given me the choice to either give up, or take a moment to get up and try again.  My nursing career has been one of the hardest most precious pieces of my individuality to keep during our time with the military.  Between moves and times of being the only parent for our three children, I have had to do what I felt was best for my family.  When I graduated nursing school over 14 years ago, I interviewed and planned to go on to become a nurse practitioner.  That plan went away with all my nursing connections from school and work as we made our first PCS (military move) from our home in Alabama to Cheyenne, Wyoming ( I had to look it up on a map because I had no idea where Wyoming was located ).   I found myself looking for a new job about every two years.  My nursing experience began in emergency room, then as we moved I worked in a same day surgery, a pain clinic, med/surg/peds in a rural hospital, as an adjunct professor for LPN / AD RN's with a community college, in a nursing home / rehab, as a school nurse in Massachusetts, for DODEA, and now public schools in Virginia.  I am grateful to have had the chance to experience school nursing and the priceless rewards it brings as a career.  Honestly, how many jobs allow you to walk down the hall feeling like a "superstar" having so many people happy to see you, offer you the perk of individually created priceless pieces of art work to include portraits to hang on your office wall, and truly make you feel you can make a positive difference in the world (O.K. teachers maybe).  If it had not been for our life in the military, I would have missed the opportunity to become what I am always proud to say, “I am a School Nurse”. 

I am speaking up for my clients and my career: 

https://www.change.org/p/william-a-hazel-jr-the-virginia-secretary-of-health-and-human-resources-a-school-nurse-in-all-of-virginia-s-public-schools

https://www.facebook.com/schoolnurseforeverychild/

https://twitter.com/dl_schoolnurse