I always knew that having a military family was important, but holy cow, I’ve never been more thankful for mine.
Sure, I was thankful for my neighbors who let me sit in their house for hours on a holiday morning when I locked myself out and my husband was away training.
Can you believe that you found the person you want to spend the rest of your life with? The zinger is that they’re in the military! But, you’re in love; you can make it through anything.
Many people have no idea what it means to marry a service member. While you’re planning the rest of your life, there are a few things that you should know about marrying a service member:
As a kid, I remember my parents and grandparents saying, “I remember where I was when…”
Where they were when they heard that John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated or that we landed on the moon—these monumental, life-changing events that shaped the trajectory of our nation and culture.
I have a couple of my own.
A great deal is asked of us as military spouses during our service member’s time in service.
We leave our families, homes, friends, and all we know to support our spouse’s career. We raise our children alone for long stretches of time, experience new lands and people from all over the world, and handle both the joys and heartbreaks of life with as much grace, resilience, and perspective as we can muster. Some days are better than others.
Everyone has troubles. We all know that. Every person you see is carrying something heavy. Many times they aren’t sure if they will be able to carry it at all.
Then there is the burden of deployment. And that one is killer. That one is hard. Harder than most. This is in part due to its uniqueness. You look around you, and everyone’s burden seems so uniform. So predictable. So universal. Financial woes. Sickness. A rift in the family. Even a death.
I knew the day was coming, but it felt so far away. In fact, it still doesn’t feel real. It happens all the time in the military community—people move, and then they move again. I’ve said it many times—it’s a small big military, and we never lose our forever friends; they just move a bit. I’ve also always said people are closer than ever with Facebook and texting. But when I know they’re leaving, it make me want to cry, “Why does she have to PCS?”
Mission: Milspouse is a
501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
EIN Number: 88-1604492
hello@missionmilspouse.org
P.O. Box 641341
El Paso, TX 79904