LJ idol week 4: Fear is the heart of love

[sonarvampress]

I don't know if I can do this. I say it all the time and people think it's a joke. I've done this before, two deployments down, one coming up sooner than I ever expected. Where did the time go? It seems like only last week I assured him that early 2017 was a great time for a deployment. It meant he'd be home for almost a year. Not straight, of

Comments

[penpusher]

I think those of us who don't have any current family members involved in any branch of the armed services, the life of the families of those people is not something any of us think about for more than a fleeting moment, like when those commercials for USAA insurance came on - they were running those spots regularly for a while, but it feels like a year since I've seen one. Those were tiny peeks into what appear to be "normal American families," when there's more going on...

You've captured the elements that are important to remember about a military family, that it's not just one person making a sacrifice to do this work, that it's everyone sacrificing time with a spouse, a parent, a sibling... or sometimes the whole family is uprooted and sent to far flung points on the globe for a couple of years, only to be sent somewhere else just as distant.

Best to your family and hope for all of the elements you collectively need to get through this time well!

[sonarvampress]

I think sometimes I only have a glimpse of it. We have be blessed enough to be stationed in my home town since my husband and I met over 8 years ago. Our children know at least some of their family and I have friends and family I can depend on to help. I dread the day I know what its really like and we have to move arcoss the country or even move to a new country.

[deza]

I've been a brat and a spouse. Of the first 27 years my parents were married, Dad spent 19 of them at sea.

We developed family rituals. Looking at the full moon and saying "Daddy sees this too" was a point of connection in an age far before emails. Dad taped himself reading my favorite books so I could hear his voice even when he was on the far side of the world. As a child, little things mattered so much more than an adult realizes.

I kept up those traditions with my kids.

I hope you and yours can find some peace traditions of your own.

[sonarvampress]

Thank you. I think we will do the moon thing. My hsuband partcipates on united theough reading so we have one disk of him reading a book but I think one night we will record a few more because although he is going to do it again this time, last time took weeks for it to arrive and I know that by then we will be tired of the very hungry catapillar. Sometimes my daughter requests to watch her "Daddy video" even on duty days.

[lilmissmagic71]

As tough as this is, you expressed it very well... Strength to you!

[adoptedwriter]

My sister went through this with young kids. It's rough. Hugs

[halfshellvenus]

The life of a military spouse can be very difficult, and this is one of the hardest aspects of it. The person you love is gone for long stretches at a time (the better part of years, sometimes), and neither of you has any control over it. Loving in spite of that is its own form of bravery.