“Despite the distance, I will always be thankful for our healthy and happy family and every minute that we get to spend together.”

Meet Cara. She is married to her combat engineer Marine, Sean, and is fur mom to Marlin, their golden retriever. Sean is one of my husband’s best friends from college. We joke that Cara and Sean met on our honeymoon. Long story short, Caleb and I had a terrible honeymooning experience (that’s a story for another time), while his two friends, Sean and Robbie, went on a Caribbean cruise where Sean and Cara met!

Cara was living in Maryland at the time, but they immediately knew that wanted to date when they got back to land. They were long distance for two years before she was able to move down to Emerald Isle to be with Sean. She was nervous about transferring her job because she had been so settled where she was. Thankfully the company she works for allowed her to work from home for the majority of the time and only be in office one week per month!

According to Cara (and many other spouses), pretty much everything is different in the military lifestyle: personal time off, vacation time, healthcare, moving every three years. Side note (my words, not Cara’s): one of the lines I hear often is, “Well, at least you have free health insurance.” But let me tell you—nothing in this military life comes without a cost. I might have “free” healthcare, but it often provides a bare minimum of care…I have had to be my own advocate throughout the entire infertility process…and is anything really “free” when we have our spouses gone for months at a time? And now I shall step off my soapbox.

A new and exciting part of the Marine Corps life is coming their way soon! They are about to embark on a new adventure on the west coast in Monterey, California. This will be their first PCS as a married couple. She will still be able to keep her current job, which she is very thankful for!