After reading a Navy Wives Facebook Support Page, I thought a few girls needed this one.

This Column is Dedicated to The Spouses, “Those who Silently Serve.”

Anything But Dependent is the title I chose for this weekly spouse column. I came up with this title because of the stereotype we are given. Our civilian counterparts have labeled us as dependent, needy, and whiney.  I am normally pretty reserved when someone has views different from my own.  I respect them, keep an open mind, and try to gain perspective from listening to others.  But this is something that I can’t keep quiet about.  I even caught myself snapping at a very rude woman in line behind me at the store once.  She was talking about living in “this town” and how she was tired of “these lazy military wives” to a friend on the phone.

She was referring to an exhausted looking woman in pajama pants who was in front of us holding her credit card and a Military ID.  While I waited for her to end her conversation, thoughts flew through my mind.  Who was the woman in the pajama pants? I wonder what would bring her to the store at 7:45AM.  Was she sick with no one to help her?  Was she getting something for her child that couldn’t wait until later?

I then started thinking of all the times that I have gone to the store in sweat pants and my hair tied in a knotty mess just to get the much-needed medicine for my children or myself.  So many thoughts were rushing through my brain that it made my face heat up.  The women hung up her phone and I turned to her and said, “I couldn’t help but over hear your comment about military wives, I just wanted to let you know that you are putting a very negative stereotype on a large and amazing group of women.”  She replied, “There’s nothing amazing about women that sit around waiting on their husbands and having babies!”  Continue reading →