If you wonder what the title of my post is today, it’s chiefaversary. This means my husband was a chief select one year ago this week. It’s funny looking back at those seven weeks of my life and remembering every moment I could have done differently. For anyone who has gone through the season, it is hard. The select is challenged individually and as a group, but the family is challenged also. To be completely honest, I was not the most supportive human. I cringe at many of the memories because I really hurt my husband’s feelings at times, I am not proud of my behavior. I have a million excuses for my behavior, I was pregnant, we had a young child, I was far from family, I was busy with school, but really none of those mean I should have acted unreasonably. I look back at this time with shame, but it’s a lesson. Every experience we have in life is a lesson. My lesson was thinking before I spoke and trying to find the positive in every situation. I learned not to be jealous of the time my husband spends away from home because he would rather be with us. I learned to meet in the middle and try to be flexible when plans change. None of these lessons have been perfected. In fact, I still get frustrated, but it has opened up communication channels we did not have before. We learned to solve problems as a team and work together. We learned the type of time we need from each other and how to prioritize. I do not miss chief season and am glad we do not have to experience it as a select family again, but if there’s any wisdom I could impart is don’t spend the precious time you have with your spouse complaining and being angry, don’t hold their schedule against them, and remember that this season will pass. One day, it will be a memory and nothing more.