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If someone had told me I would be single to my mid-thirties and then marry straight into both the Army and five stepkids, I would have laughed in their face. That laugh would have been the hearty belly laugh, extended version. It would be the kind that continued to make me bust up again uncontrollably in quiet places, just from remembering the comment.
But, this is where life has taken me. To be more exact, it’s where my choices have taken me. The last five months have brought emotions from frustration to joy and every other in between. I thought I knew myself well, but turns out I’m still learning something new every day.
I hope you will follow along. I will need the sage advice of the retired military spouse readers. I will need the camaraderie of the other moms out there. And, occasionally, I will need everyone to have one of those hearty belly laughs at my expense.
After a 10 year career in politics and then returning to school, Melissa Hafen is a brand new Army wife, stepmom to five and Kansan.
Melissa attended Brigham Young University and then began her career in Washington as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill. She spent time in the private sector prior to working for a presidential campaign in 2007-8. Following that adventure, she helped the Lt. Governor of Virginia in his reelection campaign as his Political Director.
Through the hospitalization and subsequent death of her father, in 2010, Melissa discovered her strengths and passion lied in nursing. Prior to meeting and marrying her husband, she was in nursing school in VA.
Melissa is also a big sister, an auntie, a dark chocolate connoisseur, an ardent lover of beaches and mountains, and a sewing novice.
