An Interesting Conversation

Every Saturday morning I spend an hour in the waiting room of the ballet studio as my daughter has her dance class. Yesterday my oldest daughter was not with me, but opted instead to stay at home with her Dad - can't say I blame her. My friend, Aileen, is also a Navy wife and her daughter is in the same ballet class with my youngest. So on Saturday mornings we sit and chat about our lives, our cares and concerns. It's nice.
Yesterday she had her younger brother with her. He was spending the weekend to help her out while her husband is deployed. I know Aileen really appreciates it because she has two small children with number three on the way - it gets to be a lot all on your own. Her brother was very nice and we all had an enjoyable time talking.

So as Aileen and I sat there her brother said, " So this is the wife of a Navy life, you sit around, drink your coffee and complain about your lives..." I realize that this is what a lot of people think, but it isn't really realistic. My life is more like dealing with ice storm Bertha and frozen pipes when my husband calls me from port in Hawaii. There are many aspects of it that just aren't fun.

So far this year, my husband will be gone for a minimum of 200 out of 365 days. I'm not complaining- this is what I signed on for - even though I didn't marry a Navy man. I'm simply explaining. Joe, my friend's brother said, " How do you do that? Isn't marriage hard enough without trying to be married to a guy that's gone all the time? I mean, you take care of everything yourself, you don't have someone there to be a companion and more... How do you do that?"

So I thought about it for a minute and then I said, "It's easy. I do it because the three weeks that I get at a time with my husband is better than years that some people have. I do it because he is my love, my partner, the other half of me. There isn't a single vision that I have for my future that he isn't in... so everything else is just getting there." I really mean that. My husband is ( along with my children) my whole world. I am so proud of what he does, the man he is, his love of country, his willingness to serve and sacrifice. All these things are what make him the only man that I want to grow old with. Anything that might be temporary ease of a momentary situation, well, that just isn't worth our life, our love, our family or our future. It's all about the BIG picture.