“Despite the distance, our family continues to grow closer.”

Meet Deena. She is mom to a sweet baby girl named Karina and wife to her Marine who is an aircraft mechanic. They have known each other since Kindergarten! Not many people can say that about their spouses. From a small town in Indiana, they dated a couple times in high school, but it didn’t stick until the third time they began dating! They have now been married for two years and are happier than ever. Deena mentioned how they have grown together throughout all stages of life—early years in elementary school, awkward years in middle school, the “finding yourself” years in high school, and now they are navigating marriage and parenthood together.

They both started college in Indiana, before he decided he wanted to become a Marine. Deena stayed in Indiana with their families while he was in boot camp, then moved with him to Pensacola for a few months while he was completing his MOS school. For those of you not in the military lifestyle, an MOS is essentially a Marine’s job in the Marine Corps. He was learning to become an aircraft mechanic. During those few months, she was living in a hotel…another testament to the craziness of Marine Corps life!

Deena describes the military lifestyle as “predictably unpredictable,” from unexpected deployments, to dates for training changing, to daily work schedules. This is a common theme throughout all of my conversations with military spouses…never knowing when to start cooking dinner or schedule vacations! In order to cope with the predictable unpredictability, she says they don’t sweat it when they have to celebrate special holidays on dates other than the actual holiday.

They now live on-base at New River with their baby girl and two spirited dogs, Thomas and Marie. Deena has also found her “tribe” here in her new home. She likes to keep her tribe small and has one other couple that they have found have a lot in common with them. Sometimes one friendly face is all it takes to make a strange place feel like home.