Monthly Archives: April 2011

Army Life/JAG Wife?

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JAG  Army Life/JAG Wife?

A lot of people don’t know a whole lot about my fiancé Milton and his background.  When he was in high school, he wanted to work in a hospital, but he was too young.  So, he volunteered.  Most weekends, he spent hours upon hours volunteering in the emergency room.  The doctors and nurses were so impressed by his work that at the end of his senior year, they offered to pay for his entire college experience if he graduated in four years or less.  And he did.  Although he thought he wanted a career in medicine, he soon found a passion for the law.

In May of last year, Milton graduated with a Masters Degree in Bioethics and a Law Degree.  With the recession, many of his law school buddies were not offered jobs.  Milton applied to various law firms and legal opportunities.  One of those was the US Army JAG Corps.  I didn’t know what that was, but after watching the tv show JAG and the movie “A Few Good Men” I now know they are the lawyers of the military.

Last April, he found out he was one of 100 people selected in the US for his class.  When he first told me about it, I was mad because I felt our relationship wouldn’t have time to grow if he was away.  We talked until 6:00am one morning about whether the relationship could work.  Luckily, though, his training didn’t start for 15 months after he was selected so we had plenty of quality time.

So, for most of our relationship I’ve had to contemplate being an Army wife and what this could mean for my own life.  Where would we live?  What would I do?  When would we have kids? The first step is Milton being gone for six months for training in both VA and GA.  I will definitely miss my new husband, but we will still get to see each other some.

Well, three weeks ago Milton got “The Email”.  That’s the email where he was given a list of about 25 places and told to select his top 8 in order for where he would like to serve/live his first two years.  Places like Hawaii and Europe were on the list.  So were places like the middle of nowhere.  We put our list together, emailed it in and hoped for the best.

They started notifying people of their post in order of their last name.  Milton is a “T”.  We read on their Facebook page as others talked about where they were going.  Most were receiving their 5th or 6th choice.  I got a little nervous, but hoped for the best – and then Milton got the call!

And guess what?  He got the #1 choice on our list!  So, after Milton does six months of training starting over the summer we’ll be headed for two years to _________________…..

Ahhh, I betcha want to know!  You’ll have to wait a little while longer to know where we’ll be because we are making the announcement at our wedding this weekend!  Wedding countdown – 2 days!

A License To Wed

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A License to Wed

Apr 11-2Slowly but surely all of the wedding details are coming together.  One of the wedding horror stories you hear from couples is that they forgot to get their wedding license.  So Milton and I planned several weeks out to go and get it.

We had originally planned to get our license the day after I gave my speech since Milton was going to be in town.  He had done the research.  Since we are getting married right across the bridge, he went online to see what we would need.

We woke up that morning and I re-asked Milton if I needed a birth certificate or social security card.  He called and asked them but they said all that was needed was a driver’s license.  HOWEVER, they told Milton that because he lives in Indianapolis, we would have to get our marriage license in Indianapolis.
Which means a new trip needed to be planned!  We planned a lunch date/marriage license get together.  The process was very simple – show you driver’s license, pay your money and fill out a form.  Most of the information was typical but then they asked the following questions:

Have you ever been adjudged to be out of unsound mind?  If yes, has the adjudication been removed?

Are you related to the male applicant closer than second cousin?

Are you now under the influence of an alcoholic beverage?

Ar you now under the influence of a narcotic drug?
Luckily I passed the question with flying colors – and so did Milton. When asked if either of us had been married before or if we had kids, I am proud to say that no unknown love children or women from the past emerged.

Wedding dress – check.  Marriage license – check.  Shellin’ out a lot of money for everything else – check!!!  Let the countdown begin – 10….. 9 (wait stop right there)!  Nine more days…

April 2011

Wedding Dress Drama

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Wedding Dress Drama

Apr 11-3When you have less than six months to plan a wedding, everything must be done at a rapid pace.  The location, photographers, wedding cake – everything had to be locked into place pretty early on because most of them were already booked for an event.

When I first went wedding dress shopping, each location would tell me that I needed to order the dress ASAP to ensure I would receive it on time.  Time was definitely of the essence.  I drove to each bridal store in Louisville.  I found the dress I thought I wanted. On Election Day 2010, I also stopped by The Bridal Suite of Louisville.  They had a rack of dresses deeply discounted on sale for $100.  One of the sale dresses was the same dress I wanted at the other store – at a MUCH cheaper price.  I left the store to think about the purchase, but Milton said I needed to go back in and buy it.  It was a deal I couldn’t beat.

Fast forward to last week.   I had dropped my dress off to be fitted and the day had come to pick it back up.   I was excited to see it, but nervous to see if she (we’ll call her SH) could make the correct alterations.   I was also a little set off by the alterations lady because she asked to be paid in cash.   Because of that, I arrived with a chip on my shoulder.  As I arrived at her house, her husband was working in the garage.  He asked if SH was supposed to meet me.  I said yes.
SH wasn’t there.  She thought my 11:00am appointment was at 5:00pm.  She said she’d be there in 15 minutes.  So now the chip on my shoulders has become a boulder.  She lived in a different end of town and I’d driven 25 minutes to get there.  I start doubting SH and tell myself I should have worked with someone else.  She pulls into the  driveway 16 minutes later and we walk into her basement.  I put on my half smile and try on the dress.  My half smile turns into a beaming smile as I realize that she did a great job taking it in and tweaking it!

Any doubt, negative views or issues that I had with SH were overshadowed by her amazing work at a very reasonable price.  I left a happy bride-to-be.  Operation wedding countdown – 16 days!

April 2011

Facebook Reunion

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Facebook Reunion

Apr 11-4I survived my speech last week at Jefferson Technical Community College and everything went well.  I briefly mentioned a Facebook conversation that I had randomly received and here’s what it said (please note: I have never met, seen or heard of the person in this exchange)

Chris Wright March 21 at 2:20pm
“Hi Michelle, You don’t know me but I have to ask you a question. Your name and face kind of flew out at me when I saw it on my FB page and a rush of memories from the early 80′s came rushing back, so I looked at your pics and saw that your mother’s name was Lillian, but saw no pics or mention of your father; was your father by any chance Dr. Gary Yeager who worked at JCC in the early 80′s? If so, I worked with him at JCC during the time that you were born and remember sooooooo many wonderful stories about you as you were growing and what a proud father he was. If not, I so apologize for this intrusion. Please let me know. He was such a wonderful man. ~Chris Wright”

Michelle Yeager March 21 at 2:26pm
“Hello Chris, my father worked at JCC but his name was Thomas (Steve) Yeager. He was there from 1976 until he died in 1993.”

Chris Wright March 21 at 2:34pm
“Steve!! That’s it; Steve!!! I am so, so sorry. He worked with Gary Steedly in the continuing education dept, I was Gary’s admin at time; I mixed up their names. I am so sorry. But Michelle, I have goose bumps. I actually remember when you were born and as you were growing he would come in with some of the most awesome proud father stories. Two in particular that stay in my mind… one, the morning he came to work just laughing so hard because he said that every time he left to go to work, you would start singing “My Baby’s leaving on the train… until he comes back home….” ?? (i can’t remember that exact song, but he was just hilarious and so proud) And then… during the royal wedding of Princess Diana he said you watched every detail and were absolutely a princess and would marry the same way. Oh Michelle, it’s so awesome to have known those stories of your very early years and to have known such a wonderful man; I absolutely looked up to Dr. Yeager as a great inspiration. It’s wonderful to see you now and have those memories. May I friend you on here? My name is Chris Wright and I’m a web producer at WHAS11; that’s how I saw your exchange with Renee Murphy. I’m goose bumpy right now. hah. ;-) ”

Michelle Yeager March 21 at 3:11pm
“We definitely can keep in touch. He passed away my senior year of high school and my mother passed away from ovarian cancer five years ago so I cherish all stories I hear!
It’s interesting that you mentioned the royal wedding. I am actually getting married the day after Prince William’s wedding and Renee Murphy is my maid of honor”

…..And the conversation continued.  Who would have ever thought that a simple post on a friends page would connect me with someone that shared some amazing childhood memories of my father especially right before I get married.  To the tune of Walt Disney – “It’s a small world after all!”

April 2011