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| Navy Boot Camp, 2003 |
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| Michael and I as brand new exhausted parents, 2009
It was a sunny, warm day at the DFW airport in Dallas when I
left for the Navy. Arriving at Great
Lakes, Illinois that night and seeing ice on the ground was a bit of a shock. I
still remember how nervous I was, but strangely excited at the same time to be
joining the military. It was something
so much bigger than me and I knew even at the young age of 19 I was where I was
supposed to be at the time. It felt scary, but right.
Little did I know at the time how much that eight weeks of boot
camp would prepare me for a journey I’d begin six years later…motherhood. Oh yes.
Navy boot camp can actually be compared to parenting babies and
toddlers. Surprised? I can explain. This is a list of six of the ways Navy boot
camp is like mothering small children.
1.
You have
to eat really, really fast.
In boot camp you have little time to eat
and you also aren’t allowed to speak during meal time. I learned that if I
wanted to finish my food, I’d have to basically put my head down and shovel the
food in quickly. Oh yes, I still do this now.
I can eat so quickly I’m sure I could be a contender for a food eating
competition. My husband asks me
frequently “do you even taste your food?” Well, sometimes I guess I don’t. And I do realize that it appears I am
inhaling my food. But I need nourishment too! Sometimes the only way is to
shovel it down to avoid starvation! Survival mode eating for moms. I learned it first in the Navy. Eat fast, or don’t eat at all.
2.
You also
have to shower really, really quickly.
When I was in boot camp, we were
given 10 minutes total to shower. Let me explain what this 10 minutes had to
include. It meant you had to literally run to the shower area from your rack
holding your hygiene bag, get undressed, make your way to one of the eight
showerheads in the midst of 40 other female sailors, wash yourself, brush your
teeth, use the restroom, get re-dressed and be back in front of your rack. In
TEN MINUTES. Yep. This was a great lesson for me! Now, I sometimes have less than 10 minutes to
shower, which is no problem! I’m not
even kidding, my 10 month old had a blow out earlier and of course poop ended
up on me. Not unusual, but I felt gross and wanted to clean myself up. It was 12:45 when I discovered it. I had to
leave at 1:00 to head to church to pick up two of my daughters from
pre-school. Easy peasy! Plenty of time
to shower, dress, and load up a 10 month old and 2 year old and be at the
school on time for pickup. Thanks, Navy
boot camp! One of the best lessons ever: how to take a Navy shower.
3.
You care
a lot less about your appearance.
This is closely related to #2 in that the
less time you have to focus on showering, the less time you have to care about
your appearance. In boot camp, your appearance
is nowhere near your list of priorities. You only have time to care about your
smell. Look, this is not always easy to accept,
but it is a lot less stressful if you can settle for looking clean and forget
about looking made up. It is what it is.
The kids will grow and eventually actually avoid your bathroom when you’re in
there naked. At that time, you can spend
more time primping. But in the meantime,
while the toddler is watching your every move and the baby is crying, you do
what you have to do. Get in, get clean, put your hair back, brush your teeth
and get out. Bonus points if you can
floss. Hygiene is important!
4.
You learn
to take a lot less offense when being screamed at.
In Navy boot camp its common knowledge that
part of the job of the recruit division commander (RDC) is to yell at you, a
lot. It doesn’t matter what you do, who you are, where you’ve come from…its
boot camp. You get yelled at. Sometimes you’ll have an RDC in your face yelling
at you, and if you take it personally, your life is a lot harder. You have to
let it slide off your back. You have to
learn that they aren’t yelling at you really…they’re yelling at the idea of
you. You’re a recruit. I’ve learned this attitude of not taking
yelling personally has helped me through toddler tantrums. It isn’t me, it isn’t what I’ve done, but
sometimes a small child is tired, or sick, or both. And tantrums happen. It helps to know the screaming isn’t directed
anywhere toward me, it’s just occurring.
And I can ignore it. Oh, this
lesson is pure bliss when you master it.
Ignore the tantrum, walk away, don’t feed it any attention…and it
stops. True story. I’m so appreciative now of the times my RDC’s
screamed irrationally in my face.
Thanks, Navy boot camp for helping me handle my children’s irrational
screaming!
5.
You learn
to function well on less sleep.
Before joining the Navy, I would sleep in…a
LOT. And sometimes I would sleep 12 hours
a night. 12 hours! I loved my
sleep. I was LAZY. Boot camp turned that around for me. No more comfortable sleeping in with my
feather pillow and warm comforter. Nope,
night time was turned in to trying to get rest on an old metal rack with a
small, misshaped, scratchy wool blanket.
It wasn’t the greatest for snoozing.
Waking up was no joke in boot camp.
Reveille was early, and bright, and loud. There was no way of getting the good night’s
rest you so desperately wanted, and there was nothing you could do about it.
You had to suck it up! You had to
function anyway, and function well. Having small children is quite similar.
Having kids? Say goodbye now to comfortable, adequate sleep. And to luxuriously lingering around in bed right after waking. Good sleep is gone, so is waking up comfortably. You have to get up quickly. Hungry babies are
usually crying babies! There is no time
to relax, you have to get moving even though you might be completely
exhausted. Thanks, Navy RDC’s for teaching me how to hop
right out of bed despite my fatigue! (There is a difference now however in that
I am allowed coffee, whereas in boot camp you are not. Thank. You. Jesus. For.
COFFEE.)
6.
You learn
that the proudest you’ll ever feel is usually after something that was really
hard.
I remember the first time I cried tears of
just pure pride in boot camp. Other
Sailors will know what I’m talking about here: the day after battle-stations,
after the RDC’s remove your ‘RECRUIT’ hats, and give you your ‘NAVY’ hats. It’s
near the end of boot camp, when you realize you’ve done it, you’ve transitioned
from civilian to sailor. Being a part of
the World’s Greatest Navy was something I’m so blessed to have done. I’m so grateful for my time in, the memories
are all so good and serving was just so very fulfilling. And it hit me then, just how valuable a
little hard work could be and how rewarding it could feel. Oh yes, it was hard. But worth it? 100%. Parenting is a lot like that. NOTHING is harder, but nothing has that great
of a reward, either. The pride I’ve felt
each time I’ve held one of my babies for the first time…nothing compares. The pride I’ve felt when first steps have
been taken, first words have been spoken…nothing compares. I’ve been brought to tears watching my six
year old read. Seriously. My heart fills up with such pride, such pure
admiration for this child that is mine and it overwhelms me. Yep.
It’s hard, doing this parenting thing, day and night, seven days a week,
365 days a year. Man, it’s so hard
sometimes. I’ve had many a break down over the sleep deprivation and the
hard. But. It’s so worth it. 100% worth it, all of it.
I’ve said it before that raising children with my husband
has been my greatest adventure yet, and it’s the honest truth. My time in the Navy follows shortly
behind. I would’ve never ever guessed,
in those first 8 weeks of my Navy life, just how much I’d be getting prepped
for parenthood…what a wild ride, right?
Until next time…
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