It’s Friday! I cannot tell you all how thankful I am the end of the work week has arrived. This blog has become my “third job” of sorts, trailing behind my real job as a School Certifying Official at ASU and my second “job” as a graduate student. Trust me, I am not Wonder Woman, in case you all were wondering how I do it all. In balancing out these responsibilities and my home life as a wife and mother of a 4 year old, there are many things I sacrifice. While the list below is not exhaustive, it’s a tiny glimpse as to how I live my life now:

-Skipping the gym (most days, anyways)
-Cleaning the house…haha (sometimes)….my husband has really stepped up in this department.
-Social outings (these are rare during the school semester)
-Haircuts (I love my hair stylist but I get my hair done about once every 6 months or when I can remember)
-Non school essential reading (Honestly, I just turned in two books I checked out back in September and kept renewing as I couldn’t “find” time to read them. I selfishly held onto the third because it’s about kids and preschool transition. My kid is starting kindergarten in the fall; I am in need of guidance.)
-An updated budget (I’m afraid to admit when I backtracked for the fall semester, I stopped keeping the budget “current” in September. Must not make that mistake again.)

Yes, I have a self deprecating sense of humor. I do love what I do, which is trying to be a bit of everything. I don’t sit still well, unless the task calls for it. I am eager to socialize and learn. I am fascinated by people and so, I love to hear their stories.

Writing for this blog is challenging in the sense, I am communicating on various fronts. My platform is certainly to support America’s Post-9/11 female service members and veterans. I want to encourage them to share their stories and to find a creative way of supporting female veterans in higher education (i.e. my eventual goal of the Shirt Stories project). Sharing these details is important in furthering my work. However, I also like to write freely about various veteran issues I discover along the way. One of the best lessons I learned last semester is that I can have insider and outsider status, congruently, for the populations I belong to (i.e. being a female veteran, being a Marine veteran, being a Post-9/11 veteran, being a 1st Marine Division Marine, being a 3rd MAW Marine, etc.). There are, and always will be, many hats I can wear.

However, I do feel that my purpose is better served if I also launch a specific Facebook page. I have the freedom to write longer posts on my blog but this new “frontier” will allow me to engage more in conversations with other veterans and civilians who are interested in my mission.

You can now find me at http://www.facebook.com/shewearsdogtags.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me!

~Cheryl