#IMSCFamily: Elise Thomasson

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  • AFIMSC

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- Meet Elise Thomasson, spouse of Maj. Chris Weimer with AFIMSC’s Expeditionary Support Directorate at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. 

Elise has been around the military since her sister became a cadet at the Air Force Academy. She met her husband, who was an Academy classmate, at her sister’s wedding. 
 
What’s your best experience as the spouse of an Airman? 
Right after Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed, two Airmen friends and I started the first Gay-Straight Alliance in the Air Force. We networked with service members stationed all over the world and I cherish my friends made then. We were even interviewed by the New York Times, where they wrote, "Thomasson, whose husband is an Air Force officer." For once, he got to be the arm candy!
                
What’s a challenge you and your spouse overcame as a team? 
This is a serious one, and it took both of us to resolve. We intervened before an Airman's suicide was completed. Even after that first day, there were several weeks of coordinating help and support where both of us -- along with our circle of friends -- worked for him. It takes a team to battle suicide in the military. Personally, a marriage really strengthens when a wife gets to see her husband stand up and do the right thing to help someone else.
                
What’s your best advice for other AFIMSC spouses? 
Get a hobby helping others, and you will find your friends. I know spouses here volunteer at their church, the Spouses Club or at the Fisher House. My dog and I volunteer at a hospice doing pet therapy. Another mom volunteers every year backstage at the kid's dance recital.
                
Do you have a mantra that you live by and how does it help? 
There are lots of mantras about radical acceptance: "Bloom where you are planted," "God grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change."  While I agree with those, I think that improv actors have the best interpretation: "yes, and ..." The acceptance is there, and then there is the promise of future fun.