2018, it has been three years since I walked across the brow of the ship. After 14 years in the Navy I decided it was time for us to part ways. It wasn't an easy decision but I came to a point where I needed to be around my family more than I needed to have a career. I know it's crazy I was six years away from retirement and I walked away but I gained so much more.
Being a single mom is hard, being a single mom in the Navy takes on a whole new meaning. Deployments, duty, training all take up a large portion of your life. Many times your family gets put on the backburner. You don't want to put them there but the Navy isn't going to hold off deployment because you have a parent-teacher conference, or you can't call in sick because your kid is throwing up his life on the side of your bed. So I made choices and I stuck with them because I hadn't reached the point of being fed up. In 2014 I reached my fed up moment when I walked into my new command. I was greeted with "Welcome to Hell" followed by a schedule I had never encountered in 14 years. My superiors didn't care that my stuff sat in boxes for almost three months, it wasn't their concern that I had to make arrangements to get services started in my new apartment. Their focus was on inspections that they had been failing consistently. So I put all the personal stuff I had going on and jumped right into the craziness. There was never a lull or a moment where I could take for myself. It seemed as if every five seconds someone was calling me "MM1 I can't find the chief, MM1 I need to go to medical, MM1 when are we going home, MM1 my wife left me and took everything with her".
Please understand that I loved my Sailors and I still do very much but with my children were growing up and I didn't want to miss any more irreplaceable moments. I submitted my paperwork and separated from the Navy. I made the decision to go into social work and began my academic career. College in itself was daunting but thankfully my support system was there every step of the way. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA and got into three top social work programs in NYC. It is never too late to start a new chapter in your story. Don't defer your dreams and never settle in life. Follow your passion and pave the way for the next generation.
Please understand that I loved my Sailors and I still do very much but with my children were growing up and I didn't want to miss any more irreplaceable moments. I submitted my paperwork and separated from the Navy. I made the decision to go into social work and began my academic career. College in itself was daunting but thankfully my support system was there every step of the way. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA and got into three top social work programs in NYC. It is never too late to start a new chapter in your story. Don't defer your dreams and never settle in life. Follow your passion and pave the way for the next generation.
No comments:
Post a Comment