Last week, my civilian neighbor stopped by with a bottle of wine and asked if she could (and I quote) “be on my Deployment Team?” My neighbors here in Texas (mostly civilians at this duty station) are aware that my husband is downrange, but this was a first for me.
I asked her what she thought my “Deployment Team” was, and she replied, “You know, the one that cooks for you, watches your kids, and just keeps you from crying all the time.”
As military spouses, we often find ourselves looking forward to the day we get to decorate our homes with no rules, restrictions, or repainting involved (or maybe that’s just me as an HGTV girl).
As we just celebrated the mother of all American holidays, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride in being a military spouse, especially an Army one! My pride in this fact does not always manifest itself in an over-the-top “We can do it” mantra (but in all honesty, I have flexed my bicep during a few solo PCS moves and deployments). I don’t always feel like a mighty military spouse.
What if someone offered to make you a stronger, more resilient person before you took off for that new duty station? What if you had the opportunity to participate in a program that could help you with problem solving and maintaining a positive outlook at whatever life (and the chaos of a move with kids and pets) can throw at you? A little resilience can help.
Take a minute and think about the PCS checklist you have at this time of year.
Not proud of my mindset, I began preparing for our 13th move while still unpacking from the 12th.
I was in the garage unwrapping pictures I never bothered to unpack from the last move (just a mere 10 months ago), and I was feeling a little overwhelmed and a whole lot irritated. After unwrapping a few items that resulted in instant remorse for not trashing them at the last duty station, I came across a small wooden sign that read:
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that my happiest moment was birthed from tragedy. Every joyful shout surrounding my happiest moment is shadowed by a painful whisper that my joy was rooted in grief and loss.
It’s almost paralyzing to look back on my life and select my happiest moment.
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