I'm a senior. I should have a game plan by now; well at least most of my friends do. They all know what they want to do. Some have secured jobs, some have signed up for grad school, and others know that they are headed back home.
"What do you want to do after you graduate?" Oh, how I loathe that question. There are so many answers I wish I could give. There are still so many obstacles between where I am now and what I WANT to do when I graduate. I'm not just your normal scared senior, no. I am your scared senior whose future is dependent on my fiancé's next step in his future. Now if this were a "normal" relationship I wouldn't do this, but when your man is in the military it seems like everything is up in the air.
At this point, I cannot move my career path into a particular area. I cannot apply for jobs in any part of the United States because I do not know exactly where we will be living upon the completion of my undergraduate studies. It could be at his current duty station, a new duty station or he could be out of the military in the next couple years.
Making choices as an engaged couple is hard, but making choices as a military engaged couple can be even harder. There are so many unknowns. People just don't understand that what I want to do and what is practical right now is so far apart. Prior to meeting my fiance I knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to live. I had a plan. Now I know I want to be with him. Do I still want to do all of those things that I had planned? Of course, I do. Sometimes plans get messed up, it's part of life.
When I tell people I don't know what I am going to do they get mad that I don't just chase my dream. What they don't understand is I can always chase my dream. I can do what I want to do at any point in my life. That is the great point about being young, I have time to do all of these things and see all of these places and hopefully, I get to do that with the love of my life by my side.
My fiance and I both have dreams and aspirations outside of the military that we are determined to achieve. We make it a point to push each other every day. He knows my dreams and I know his, we might not have a plan, but we have each other.
