Resilience has been the key word for 2020. This year has brought us a pandemic, an economic crisis, an upheaval of normalcy, and so much more. Yet, through it all, we have persevered.
As James Lane Allen once said, “adversity does not build character, it reveals it.” This year, the nation—and the world—has experienced adversity.
The week before a deployment.
When I look back, I barely remember that week. By that time, we had done all the chores we needed to do to prepare.
We had our paperwork in order.
His stuff was packed.
We had our new phone plan set up…
We had done it all.
Months and months of brainstorming and planning every way possible to prepare ourselves, and we had finished.
Project Healing Heroes founder and CEO Lt. Col. (Dr.) David Tharp discusses the organization’s mission of empowering trauma resolution for our nation’s heroes.
The perfect sunny day hits after two rainy weekends and a string of tropical storms. He wakes up happy because it’s day two of golf plans with friends. She wakes up happy because she thinks they’re having a day date full of sunshine and tea.
Disconnected, much? I’d say so.
Today’s episode features Dr. Marisa Porges, formal naval flight officer and author of “What Girls Need: How to Raise Bold, Courageous, and Resilient Women.”
This might actually surprise those of you that know me, because I’m a generally outgoing and funny gal, with a pretty positive attitude even in crappy situations.
But are you ready for a secret? Here goes…
During the course of a typical day, I will think about and plan for horrible scenarios that will likely never, ever happen.
Deployments are tough—there is no way to sugar coat it. Being the spouse of a National Guard member, deployments are something that I never really thought about. I always assumed that they were something that happened to other people—people who were much better equipped to handle them.
But sure enough, I was wrong.
I feel like I blinked and found myself fist deep in a tub of cookie dough, crying, because my husband was being deployed. I read countless books and articles, and I played out thousands of scenarios in my head as to what it would be like. I thought about things, like missing out on celebrating holidays and special events, and the fact that I now would have to take out the trash and take the dog out late at night (my two least favorite chores).
He told me we were just going on a “little” walk. It wouldn’t take that long. We’d be back in plenty of time for the sit-down dinner at the cute, little Italian restaurant in Aspen, Colorado that we had reservations for. But at the look of how things were going, that didn’t seem likely. I was halfway up a huge mountain, so exhausted, and just wanted to be done.
My husband and I were enjoying a much-needed weekend in Aspen thanks to an Army-sponsored Strong Bonds retreat. (If you’ve never attended a Strong Bonds weekend, I highly suggest going!) We were in between sessions, and my adventurous, pilot husband decided it would fun to do a “little hike” before the dinner session started.
Carpools. Commutes. Grocery runs. All of these were part of our daily routines before COVID-19 brought us a new normal, and are simple routines that we take for granted. Even though you may not drive your car as frequently as before, imagine if you couldn’t drive it at all.
What if instead of driving when you needed to drive, you had to learn how to drive all over again? For many service members and veterans returning home and coping with severe injuries, this is a reality that makes transitioning to civilian life difficult. Many service members and veterans are unable to drive their kids to practice or drive themselves to a medical appointment. They need driving rehabilitation services, and they need someone to adapt their vehicle to meet their physical needs.
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