Military Spouses are a special breed
I've been thinking about this topic for a while now, actually; and military spouse appreciation day seemed like the perfect day to publish this post.
To all military spouses -- You are phenomenal men and women. You are strong. You are powerful. You are giving. You are so many adjectives all wrapped up in one amazing person.
I've been thinking about how military friendships are so special in so many ways. We become like family helping each other without hesitation. We lift each other up and lean on each other to get through deployments. There is a closeness and connection because of the experiences we have as military spouses that only can be understood by other military spouses.
Before my husband left for this bit of training, he had been home for about 11 months. There were lots of trainings and schools and field ops during those 11 months, but nothing that took him out of state or away for more than 2 weeks. While those more than a week long field ops can be tiring and sometimes even annoying, it is nothing like the hunkering down for the long haul of separation that we do for deployment.
In those 11 months, our unit did a LOT of transition. New command and lots of good friends moved away or changed units. It was sad to see good friends go, but this is all part of how amazing military spouses are. We roll with the punches. Some others did stay in the unit along with my husband and myself.
I had just started to feel not as connected with some of my friends that are still with the unit as we were 11 months ago. As I got to thinking about why that was the thought occurred to me how this is another function of military life. Family time is sacred in all walks of life, but for military families it is at a different level. When our marine (or enter your branch of service member here) is home, we want to make the most of every moment we have with them. This time comes above all else. We so appreciate and soak up time with our marine since we so often have to go without it. We don't begrudge our girlfriends for choosing time with family over something else, because of that sanctity.
Now that our husbands are away for a bit of a longer stint, I recognize that the distance I had started to feel was not really distance at all. Our military friendships are put somewhat on a shelf while our husbands are home. They then can be picked right back up whenever we want. Not that we don't hang out or see each other when our husbands are home, but it is such a different thing when they are gone. These friendships are special because they will go to the ER with you in the middle of the night, have sleepovers cause of those weird sounds in your house at night when he is away, watch your child/children while you go to the dentist or salon or whatever, bring you ice cream cause you are stuck in the house with a sleeping child, throw you a baby shower and then help deliver your baby if your hubby is deployed, and help you fix a toilet or washer or whatever inevitably breaks because he is away. There are so many more examples that I can't list them all.
Obviously we all hate separations and deployments. The thing about military spouses is that you all help make those separations a little less terrible. Thank you, ladies. You are phenomenal.
To all military spouses -- You are phenomenal men and women. You are strong. You are powerful. You are giving. You are so many adjectives all wrapped up in one amazing person.
I've been thinking about how military friendships are so special in so many ways. We become like family helping each other without hesitation. We lift each other up and lean on each other to get through deployments. There is a closeness and connection because of the experiences we have as military spouses that only can be understood by other military spouses.
Before my husband left for this bit of training, he had been home for about 11 months. There were lots of trainings and schools and field ops during those 11 months, but nothing that took him out of state or away for more than 2 weeks. While those more than a week long field ops can be tiring and sometimes even annoying, it is nothing like the hunkering down for the long haul of separation that we do for deployment.
In those 11 months, our unit did a LOT of transition. New command and lots of good friends moved away or changed units. It was sad to see good friends go, but this is all part of how amazing military spouses are. We roll with the punches. Some others did stay in the unit along with my husband and myself.
I had just started to feel not as connected with some of my friends that are still with the unit as we were 11 months ago. As I got to thinking about why that was the thought occurred to me how this is another function of military life. Family time is sacred in all walks of life, but for military families it is at a different level. When our marine (or enter your branch of service member here) is home, we want to make the most of every moment we have with them. This time comes above all else. We so appreciate and soak up time with our marine since we so often have to go without it. We don't begrudge our girlfriends for choosing time with family over something else, because of that sanctity.
Now that our husbands are away for a bit of a longer stint, I recognize that the distance I had started to feel was not really distance at all. Our military friendships are put somewhat on a shelf while our husbands are home. They then can be picked right back up whenever we want. Not that we don't hang out or see each other when our husbands are home, but it is such a different thing when they are gone. These friendships are special because they will go to the ER with you in the middle of the night, have sleepovers cause of those weird sounds in your house at night when he is away, watch your child/children while you go to the dentist or salon or whatever, bring you ice cream cause you are stuck in the house with a sleeping child, throw you a baby shower and then help deliver your baby if your hubby is deployed, and help you fix a toilet or washer or whatever inevitably breaks because he is away. There are so many more examples that I can't list them all.
Obviously we all hate separations and deployments. The thing about military spouses is that you all help make those separations a little less terrible. Thank you, ladies. You are phenomenal.
Some of the best -- Spartan Pitches kickball team circa fall 2012
More amazing women -- my baby shower
Thank you all so much.
posted by Eileen Cooper at
12:15 AM
2 Comments
