A blog from Army&You’s summer 2024 edition by Tracy Butler
I left the RAF 12 years ago when my eldest son Oliver was two and a half as my partner and I were both serving and knew that our luck with co-location was about to come to an end. This was a new chapter for us with me focusing on being a full-time mum and supporting my army husband in his career.
This gave us the flexibility to welcome two more children, Charlie and Emily, into our lives and to move around with the military.
With Oliver now at boarding school, our keenness to demonstrate mobility came at the cost of our two younger children frequently leaving friends, clubs, stability and familiarity. I spend most of my days going around and around in my head trying to work out the best possible solution for our next posting, which invariably means prioritising the happiness of one child over the other, which fills me with guilt and uncertainty.
With the cost of living ever-increasing, I also needed to decide whether to attempt to embark on a meaningful career but every time I contemplated a ‘real job’ I was hit with the seemingly insurmountable hurdles – my husband’s career always came first and I just couldn’t see a way to make the two things work without half-committing to a job.
Instead, I bought our cocker spaniel, Skye, to keep me company during the day and purchased a craft business ‘Home- Is’ from another military spouse creating personalised wall plaques in the shape of houses.
Two years on and I’m so proud of its success but with Facebook as my key marketing tool, I am keen to attract those not on the platform.
I feel so much joy when I get an order for a ‘forever home,’ ‘new baby/pet’ or ‘end of a career’ and weirdly feel a share in their accomplishment, privileged that they have shared their journey with me.
It’s fascinating to see all the weird and wonderful locations the military sends us to. I often find myself Googling places that I have never heard of!
Every new block has its own tale to tell of unique memories and experiences and every house or cottage is the start of someone’s incredible life journey.
With a degree in English and philosophy, I never thought my underachieving art A-level would be the one that would be the tool for my employment but c’est la vie!
Find out more at home-is.com