Who are you again??

I was chatting with a friend today and we were venting about being MRS! Why you ask? Well it seems like it defines who we are but it doesn't tell people WHO we are. What we are capable of or the strength that we have in our spirits. Being Mrs Hughes is not a bad thing in my life. It is actually a pretty great thing. But sometimes I feel like my life is defined as MRS. I am not JUST a wife. I am an Army wife. I am strong. I am independent. I am smart. I am beautiful. I am my own person. I guess I just want people to see me as my own person. Everyday I am addressed by two titles, Mrs Hughes and Mom (in various forms) With the acquisition of those titles I sometimes feel like I have lost a part of myself. I feel like I have lost me. I wonder where I lost me.....let's take a look over the last few years of my life as Mrs Hughes....
Nov 03 - We get engaged
Jan 04 - We get married (yay!)
Feb 04 - Allen leaves Germany for NC for SFAS (special forces selection school)
Apr 04 - I leave Germany for Ft Leavenworth. I am 6 weeks pregnant.
Sep 04 - Allen leaves Germany for Ft Leavenworth. I am 7 1/2 mos pregnant.
Oct 04 - I get my discharge from the Army (kind of sad :( )
Nov 04 - Allyson is born
May 05 - We move from one house on post to another. Basically he moves the boxes I put everything away! LOL
Aug 05 - We are pregnant again....(wonder how that happened?!?!) LOL
Jan - Mar 06 - Allen is at Ft Leonard Wood, Mo for BNCOC
Apr 06 - Abigail is born
Aug - Oct 06 - The girls and I leave KS for TX. We stay with Grandma and Grandpa until Allen joins us
Jan 07 - I start college.
Feb 07 - We are pregnant again.....(now I really wonder what is going on!!) LOL
Apr 07 - our rent house floods....very lovely
May 07 - Allen leaves for Iraq..the start of a 15 month tour. The girls and I move to north TX to be close to family.
Sep 07 - Anthony is born. He spends a week in the NICU. Allen is home on leave.
Oct 07 - Allen is back in Iraq and we have 10 mos to go on this tour
Jan 08 - We move back to Ft Hood
Mar 08 - My grandfather dies. The kids and I fly to NM so I can attend his funeral. I don't know to many people that have flown with three children under the age of 5.
June 08 - Anthony has surgery to put tubes in his ears.
July 08 - Allen is home from Iraq
Jan 09 - We get orders to Ft Carson, Co. Report date 10 March. We get that changed. We don't have to be there until June
Apr 09 - I fly to Colorado Springs to find a house.
May 09 - I graduate from Central Texas College. We pack up the house and go on leave.
Jun 09 - FINALLY in our own house! LOL
Aug 09 - back to school for me! yippee!! family vacation to Hawaii
Sep 09 - Allen catches a plane to Afghanistan, we find out we get no R&R. We will do 9 mos without a break. We did 10 before we can get through this.
Abigail has a reaction to milk and we find she is lactose intolerant.
Oct 09 - Allyson falls down the stairs and sprains her neck.
Dec 09 - Allyson spends the week before Christmas in the hospital with a virus that has caused swelling of her internal organs.
Feb 10 - Anthony has had a double ear infection twice since the first week of Feb.

Of course this is just a quick list of what I can remember off the top of my head. Where did the me I know go? I look in the mirror and I see Mrs Hughes. The tight lipped Army wife who is mad because the Army made her change their plans, again. Mrs Hughes the volunteer that gets yelled at by another spouse because she said something she didn't like. Mrs Hughes that stands with her children as SSG Hughes walks away to get on an airplane. Mrs Hughes that takes a deep breath when the phone rings. Mommy that holds her babies extra close since Daddy is away. Mommy that cleans up everything. Mommy that makes Valentine cookies in Dec with the kids so they can get there by Valentine's Day. Mommy that stays awake all night because her baby is sick. Every once in awhile I catch a glimpse of Adrienne. She is standing next to her Soldier with their babies in front of them.