Tribulation of a Military Spouse

Just as I was getting accustomed to living in a new city and pursing employment, I received some disheartening news. I found out that my husband might be deployed to Iraq (for the second time) as soon as September of this year. The bad thing about this news is that he will be deployed (for at least a year) to a place that is known for a lot of violence and is mentioned repeatedly in the news for attacks on US troops.
During his first deployment to Iraq I was in college. I was taking a full load of classes each semester, so I kept busy and remained focused. I had plenty of friends and several family members visited to “check-up” on me.
However, this time around I have a child to take care of and as far as having family support, well most of my family members live 16 hours away. Therefore, I am now forced to re-evaluate my situation and to decide what kind of options I have.
One of my options is to move closer to my family members. I would have their support and it would probably allow me to remain in a “stress-free” environment.
Since moving is a likely possibility, I checked out the jobs that are available near my family members. This is where the irony comes in. I actually found several public relations agencies and places that are offering paid internships for a PR assistant. That is good news, if I was living there now but it’s definitely something to keep in mind.
The other option is not to move and continue to look for work in the PR field, which is hard to find in this area. Consequently, if I choose this option I can only foresee having more opportunities to be involved in community relations instead of finding the PR job that I really want.
However, I am still in the process of researching clubs and organizations within the community. Therefore, I don’t know exactly where my future networking pursuits may lead.
Through all this uncertainty, I am remaining optimistic. What I do know is that I’m not willing to give up on my career goals so easily. I just have a few things that need to be “ironed” out.
Some may see the news about my husband deploying as “bad news.” It definitely is not good news but I am an optimist at heart. I do believe that all things happen for a reason. Perhaps, this was my “wake-up” call to put things in perspective and to commit to making more “concrete” decisions both in my personal and professional life.