Encoding An Army wife

As an Army wife I found myself the right to say all the wrong things and I find myself sucked into this void of a life where women are more than just ornaments and men are called ‘bhaiyas’. As I summed up from my seniors' lives, officers are just the invisible loners who have all the time in the world to make time for themselves. However, I think often how I got into this ruckus of a lifestyle and still like it.

The day when I was dragging my feet from my teens into my twenties I met this incredible man. Tall, a square cut jaw, sharp eyes and full lips with a curvy smile, is how I summarized him at first. He wore a six bravo uniform (a white shirt tucked neatly into well fitted black trousers) and stroke a pose of a boy who had just turned into a man. What fascinated me was the amount of exuberance around with which the girls charmed their way into the cadets lives, if only it was for the evening. Coming from a civilian background, all this being new to me, I could just stand and try not to stare. Girls didn’t really mix with a guy in front of their parents. But in the army its socializing. In fact army officers indulge their daughters in little black skirts to make an alliance in the army, IT being a very lucrative career. Where woman breeze into their lives to improve upon.

“Go dance with him”, I looked at my sister (an army wife herself) who was eight months pregnant and still attending the infamous NDA ball.

“What will you drink?”

“Anything”, it was a cold night and I didn’t really want a coke. And I was just feeling short of fleeing. Talking to a complete stranger was still a feat for me. And a handsome stranger? I had to think of something intelligent as I thanked my stars- I must have done some good deed in my past life.

As I settled down talking, I realized how much of a life of alienation I live, hibernating in my room (mostly reading). Is this is the life I haven’t seen yet?

It was all bogging me down and as the evening progressed, it was easy to fall prey to their ways. We danced on Bryan Adams “18 till I Die”, “I want to break free” by Queens and so on. I was careful not to touch though. This man was affecting me. Asking nothing return and I was set for the rest of the evening and really didn’t wait for the dreaded mid-night where I would became the same boring old college girl whose life depended more on grades than boys.

It was midnight and the Ball was over. As I walked my way back to my disquieting sister because as far as I was told the cadets had a wild reputation of kissing before finding out the last names, I bid farewell. I tripped over my high heels and realized that Cinderella had to go home now. My fairy Godmothers* gave me an eyeful, and I was sure they wanted to know the details as if I scored a six at World Cup. Well, it was an excitement of a different kind. I gave my number to him and as I held his hand to write my number*, it was his warmth that made me wish inside that he called me.

 “You have a beautiful smile”, he said and I avoided looking at him.

I still look into the mirror and wonder what he found in my smile.

Today, married to him, completing six years with a fair share of ups and downs, and now attending parties is like a profession of a different kind, I know why falling for him had been so easy. Yes, it was a process and I was a tough cookie to crack. But the qualities that make me still want to be with him are his patience and his driving force to love me with a passion that seems to douse the fiercest of fires.

And why I choose to be an Army wife? Just ask him.

* Thank you fairy godmothers(fathers)for finding my perfect mate :D even though you had no clue