Alive Day

Two years ago at this time I began this blog. I was still so entrenched in being the "wife of a wounded soldier". I was trying to decide how I should feel about the one year anniversary of Rodney being wounded. It was a very difficult, emotional and confusing time. We were dealing with the what's, the whys and the who's of the military process.

Where are we today 2 years later on now what we know to be called his "Alive Day"? Not so stuck in the everyday bureaucracy..either because we are further down the road or just tired of dealing with something you can't move any faster than even if you try. I am much more cynical that is for sure. I am letting go of the victim associated with being the "wife of a wounded" soldier-because I have to so I can move forward...live again. I will always have had this experience and wouldn't be pursuing a master's in Social Welfare if we hadn't gone through hell and back.
The process of making sure our family gets the benefits we are entitled to continues. We are waiting on the permanent and total rating from the VA-so I can have assistance with money for school (that would help tremendously!) ....but we still wait. The other is shocking to most people....as of today Rodney has still not been released from the Kansas National Guard even though he hasn't done anything like drill since he returned home...He started the med board process which entails meeting with more/different doctors to say he is unfit for duty. This process could take up to a year when he is actually done...he has one more appointment he has to attend but it hasn't been scheduled. Once he is rated by the army (VA and Military ratings are completely different in case you didn't know that-all your tax dollars hard at work!!!)
We hope to have free health insurance for our family for life but who know??
See the cynical is coming out...sorry ;(
So are there any big "Alive Day" celebrations today...that answer is no. It is like any other ordinary day except for the fact that three years later Rodney is inpatient and most likely will be for a while our lives at home are less chaotic, we are without him again. He is not off fighting insurgents but instead battling the demons left over by war and working on things in his head that should have been addressed 3 years ago,but they take care of the physical first (I was told that at Fort Gordon after he was wounded). I am sad, but also so numb. Our family is in shambles.
Maybe it just took this amount of time to get to this place....I don't have the answers. I wish someone did, but they don't. We are not the only families in turmoil because of our situation....there are countless others. We aren't on the 5 o'clock news ...we are just dealing the best we can. Someday maybe the world will notice, but for now the world doesn't want to hear about it. So as a social worker I have my job cut out for me....job security???

The good news is....I am doing better, going to school, feeling more confident-more like the me I wasn't sure still existed, I have lost some of the baggage I was carrying-30 lbs of it and I am reaching out to friends. I am living life again!! I am still the wife of a wounded soldier, but I am not wearing it like a huge sign, it is just a part of me, not the total of who I am!

SO to Rodney...."Happy Alive Day"! It is a miracle and something worth remembering and celebrating. Sorry we can't be together to do it. Keep fighting and putting the pieces together on your end.

Trying to Keep Imagining!
Tracy

My Life as a MSW Student

Hello to everyone..
I am busy getting used to going to school after a 23 year hiatus. It is actually all very interesting and gets my intellectual juices flowing. I have gone in with 3 years of advocacy experience with the military...etc.... and I am learning everyday I have made the right decision. I love my instructors, my classmates come from so may different backgrounds and points in their lives and the material...well it may be overwhelming at times but in the end it all works out. I have many projects due in the next 2 months. I am trying not to freak out too much...taking it a little at a time and I guess I work better under pressure. Undergrad was easier but I also didn't have a family, so that might explain some of the procrastinating.

The projects I have coming up include a paper about any social agency of my choice. I hope to do it on Parents as Teachers, which is a program I had the pleasure of getting to take part in when my kids were little. I also have a big group project on a homeless population. Our group has chosen Foster Kids Aging Out. It is very confusing especially being a group deal..I still have faith we will figure it all out! I am also doing an project with advocacy interviewing a congressman about some veteran & families of veterans. So that is a few of them...so far no tests..but the writing of paper's isn't something I am real confident about..we have to write in APA format??? So as you can tell I am excited but still in the adjustment stage. I am trying to work it all into the crazy life I already live...and you know what I like myself more every day!!

Trying to Keep Imagining!
Tracy