Geri Krotow isn’t just a successful romance author. She’s also a military vet and a military spouse. She’s here today to participate in my Wednesday series, Military Lives: Real Love Stories. She shares her own personal romance story and gives us the scoop on how she got the attention of President Barack Obama!

I’m a Marylander, so I love Annapolis. As a graduate of the Naval Academy there, I’m hoping you might be willing to share a romantic memory or two of the city.

Geri: My most romantic memory of Annapolis is my wedding day. My husband and I were married in the Naval Academy Chapel and enjoyed the love and support of so many friends and family as we started our dual military careers. I especially remember having our photos taken in the Superintendent’s garden, complete with blooming roses and their scent heavy in the late spring evening air.

In addition to being a military spouse, you were once also a Naval Officer yourself. Can you tell us how you happened to find love with your husband on the high seas? Or was it more of a stateside romance?

Geri: Steve and I met at the Academy. He was one year ahead of me. We started dating when I was a sophomore (“youngster” as we call it at USNA) and became engaged before the end of the year. It was true for us that we found our soul-mates early and were lucky enough to recognize it.

What challenges have you had to face, individually, but especially as a couple, because of your service?

Geri: First off the Navy did a great job of keeping us stationed near one another the entire nine years I was active duty. Steve is still active duty and of course as a civilian I get to live with him everywhere now! But we’ve had our share of long deployments, both when we were both active duty and then after I resigned my commission. Our first tour we were stationed together in the same squadron (we were already married, just 3 days after I graduated USNA). While this was great for practical reasons such as matching deployment schedules, etc, it posed its own challenges. We had virtually no privacy, and as young marrieds found it difficult to come home from being ultra-professional towards one another at work and then trying to switch to romantic newlyweds when we walked through the door. There was a lot of strain and adapting to the often harsh environment of a deployed squadron, even though we were P-3C’s and land-based. The fall-out from those first several years of being in the same command took us a bit to recover from, but the upside is that we learned early on that marriage, like life, takes hard work. The benefits–wonderful!

One of the things that inspired my paranormal novella, WILD TETHERED BOUND was an interview with a military spouse explaining that her husband was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and saying that it felt to her as if he was two entirely different people now, or maybe even more than two. Have you had any experience with PTSD in your lives, or in the lives of people close to you?

Geri: We have all either experienced PTSD or know many who have, especially since September 11,2001 and the subsequent war on terror. My husband did not like to hear sirens or loud fireworks when he first returned from the war in 2003, but he’s often said he and our family have been very blessed as so many other vets of the war have and are suffering so much from PTSD.

Are there any military causes that you’re promoting right now? Also can you tell us a little bit more about your most recent book, and how you managed to get it into the hands of President Obama?

Geri: Causes? As the wife of an active-duty Navy man and Mom of two children who travel the globe with us, I feel I’m supporting the cause of freedom and liberty on a daily basis, the best way I’m able. I do support the Viva! For Life organization in Buffalo, New York, my hometown. Viva! raises money for all the support services offered to breast cancer patients and their families at the Roswell Institute in Western New York. You can learn more about them here: http://www.vivaforlife.org/

I’ve been a supporter of military families not just because I am in one, but because when my husband was the Commanding Officer of a squadron I found it a sad statement that many of our young sailors and their families are on food stamps and other government assistance. I’m grateful they have these resources but shouldn’t someone who risks their life for their country be compensated more appropriately? This brings me to your last question–how I gave my book to President Obama.

The full story is on my site and blog, but the bottom line is that I wanted to thank the First Lady Michelle Obama for her support of military families. It’s crucial to troop and family morale. I signed a copy of my first book to her, and met the President first. We are stationed at the American Embassy in Moscow, Russia. My husband is the U.S. Naval Attache to Russia and we were lucky to be here when the President and Mrs. Obama came through to say “hi!” My most recent book was WHAT FAMILY MEANS in February 2009, Harlequin SuperRomance (Everlasting Imprint). It’s a story of a woman looking back over her life and romance with her husband. She’s white, he’s black, and they fell in love during the civil rights movement while living in Buffalo, New York. It has Paris as a major setting as well, and involves the modern-day romance of her daughter who has grown up with the challenges faced by inter-racial children.

My June 2010 release, SASHA’s DAD will be a straight Super-Romance. It is set in the fictitious town of Dovetail, Maryland (near Annapolis!). The heroine has left her high-power job as a political journalist and returned to her hometown to start and run a llama farm. The hero is her former high school sweetheart and widower of her best friend. A best friend she let go of due to the feelings she never got over. Now Dutch is widowed with an 11-yr-old daughter and Claire is back home for good. Can they every forgive each other their pasts and be strong enough to heal the deepest wounds so that their love for each other has a chance?

Thank you so much for asking me here and for your support of the military. It makes a world of difference!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 am and is filed under Military Lives--Real Love Stories, Other Writers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.