Elisabeth Ridderhoff is an Army wife and a mother of three, as well as a singer and songwriter. For this week’s Spouse Calls, I talked with Elisabeth about “Soldier Girl,” a song she wrote for the family of PFC Amy Duerksen, who died in Iraq.

     To read more about Amy Duerksen and her family, click on these links: One story from the from the Baltimore Sun and another from Military Times.

     To hear "Soldier Girl" go to Elisabeth's MySpace page.

     Elisabeth says all of her songs, like “Soldier Girl,” come from her own life.

     “Really, my first song was for my sister, because we’re best friends.,” she said.
      Elisabeth’s sister, Christy Palmer, is also an Army wife. After their husbands were stationed at Ft. Campbell, Ky, for several years, she wrote a song about something we can all relate to: moving.
     “I was leaving, and I was grieving,” Elisabeth said. “Our children became like one family during that time We bonded, and it was very hard to leave.”
     After that, she said she was inspired to write a song for each of her children.
     Another song is about deployment, about missing her husband, Kevin, and her empathy with friends who spent months without their husbands.
     Not all of her songs are serious, though. One is about flip-flops. Not the political kind -- the footwear kind.
     “That was written as a dare, because I said I’ll bet I could write a song about flip-flops, and my nieces said ‘No that would be dumb.’ ”
     Elisabeth said she has always loved music, and as a little girl, was known for singing all the time.

     Her love of music continued, and she eventually studied the subject in college. Then came marriage and children, but music was still a part of her life.
     A chaplain at Ft. Campbell first encouraged her to lead singing at a chapel service. She described it as an invaluable learning experience.
     “Every week I messed up totally” Elisabeth said. “I’d have to start songs over and go, ‘Nope, wrong song, wrong key.’ It was a great environment to learn. They were really patient with me and they laughed with me, and I got over myself really fast.”
     There she learned to focus on the music as worship.
     “It is so not about me,” she said. “I just lose myself totally.”

     Being a wife and mom is currently her priority, Elisabeth said. She home schools her three children, but her music is something she said she enjoys developing given the opportunity.

     “I’m not willing to sacrifice my family, so I’m saying ‘yes’ very carefully,” she said.

     Now living in Germany, she sings regularly for chapel services and occasionally performs with "Audience of One," a band of military-connected musicians, playing local gigs.

     "I feel to old for 'gigs' " she laughs, after using the word to describe performances in village markets and other events.. 

     Although she had no military background before marrying into the Army, she had an early start on global travel. The daughter of missionary parents, she was born in Oslo, Norway, spent a few years in Sweden, then lived in the U.S. She spent her earliest grade school years in Nairobi, Kenya, before the family relocated back to the States.
     “I have wonderful memories of Africa,” Elisabeth said. “We moved a lot, so me and my sister marrying into the military didn’t surprise my parents, but it mystifies me.”