My 'Thing'

It seems, in this vast military lifestyle, that there are wives who come from every corner and lifestyle of the world. Some guys marry women they meet overseas in Korea or Japan or Great Britain. There's yanks and southern belles, and cowgirls, ski bunnies, Mormons, Catholics, and Wiccans.
 Some are stay at home moms who are as granola as a Kashi bar while others can't part from their iPhone or careers for 10 seconds.
Some watch FOX News, others MSNBC.
But everyone seems to have a...thing. Some of my friends are fantastic cooks. They can whip up meal plans, and serve what amount to gourmet meals every night. A few are exceptional gardeners, or crafters, or homeschoolers, or career women. Most had a career they enjoyed (at least most of the time) until they started having babies. Or, in the case of a few wife lawyers, teachers or nurses, they've moved around so much they're still trying to receive their license or certification from two states ago.
And this...this is what I'm lacking.

I don't have a 'thing'.

I'm a mediocre cook, at best. I have a black thumb. I don't chair a committee or a club. I can't sew a hem on a pair of pants (even though I own a sewing machine). I am extremely uncreative when it comes to home decor or organization. I have a really nice camera but lack any ounce of talent in using it.

I never had a career or even more than a part time job. I don't have any kind of college degree or certification or license.

And yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone can say, "But you have the most important job on the planet! You're raising 3 children!" yada, yada, yada. But you know darn well that every mom wants to at least be credited with the fact that she holds some sort of credential or skill other than wiping behinds and kissing scraped knees.

In the military, we make new friends constantly and when meeting new people, I have to dodge the question over and over of "What did you do before you had kids?" or "What did you go to school for?"
Ug.  So, over and over again I explain that..well, I didn't.
It's not just the lack of career or degree or just the lack of a hobby or talent, it's...kind of all four combined.

Add that to a husband who has 3 degrees and it leaves you feeling a bit... unfulfilled, or inadequate to say the least.

The thing is, most women developed these things before they had kids. Or even before they were married. Most wives were finished or almost finished with college before they married. Most cultivated their 'thing' while they had time, or over a long period of time as they were younger.
Nevermind the fact that I can't finish school because my credits are outdated and have to be within 5 years of entering a program (who and where that will be is anyone's guess). There are wait lists and we're never in one place long enough for me to enter and graduate from the program...but I don't feel like I have time to cultivate a 'skill' or hobby.

I want a thing, I want to be good at something and show others how to do it. I want to have a hobby I look forward to doing in my free time.

Maybe if I was already inclined to something in particular. But how do you start from scratch? How do you know if you'll be any good at it? And realistically, it's hard to motivate myself to try something completely new and unknown at 8pm after I'm so wiped out by the day's events.

So until I can actually hang this in a frame in the office:

You can find me surfing the "...For Dummies" section on Amazon.com