“Despite the distance, I have a true partner in every part of life.”

Meet Jennifer. She is married to her Marine pilot, Zach. They met in college while he was at the Naval Academy and she was at the University of Maryland. They were married with a legal ceremony shortly after graduation and celebrated with a small ceremony with their families a week after that. Throughout their five years of marriage, they have experienced two deployments, one of which was a combat deployment, and created a beautiful family with three children.

They experienced the most growth when enduring a combat deployment. For all of us military spouses, we know when we hear that our husband or wife will be deployed to a “safe” place or it is a “training” deployment, we breathe a sigh of relief. Combat deployments…all bets are off; everything is different. She went four months without seeing his face the entire time. Their communication consisted of sporadic phone calls and a couple of emails. She says they found a true appreciation for one another and nothing compares to welcoming them home safely.

In college, Jennifer majored in Public Relations (think Olivia Pope) and was easily able to find a job while they were in Quantico. Once they received orders here, the jobs in PR were slim to none, so she transitioned her focus to her children and continuing education. She is pursuing post-graduate certificates in marketing and finance and is contemplating switching gears to business development and recruiting. She is yet another spouse that proves to be flexible with her career!

She has three children, two boys and one sweet baby girl. Their oldest son, who is five years old, has autism. So basically during deployments, this mom is Super Mom—caring for three children under five, one with special needs, giving birth to one of their children while Zach was deployed, cars breaking down, roofs leaking, and overall being “semper gumby” as some spouses say. While the deployment curse may be real, Jennifer encourages moms going through a deployment alone to develop a new “normal” as quickly as possible for your sake and the kids’. She also says that she celebrates small milestones that she may not otherwise acknowledge, in order to make it through deployments.

Let Jennifer serve as an inspiration to all you military mommas out there, especially those with deployed spouses!