Today I needed a day to myself. A full day of just me time. My DVR was over 60% full. It begged me to sit and have a Grey's Anatomy Marathon. My computer told me to just not even bother turning it on today. My dishes were already clean. And the dryer has an AWESOME "wrinkle free" setting, so I could just deal with it later. However, the one thing I couldn't deal with later was the kiddos. They had expectations--food, water, an occasional diaper change. And they were awake at 0615 to let me know that they had said expectations. On Veteran's Day. The one day a year that the whole country says "Thanks guys/families for what you do!" and my kids wake up early. You're welcome.
Lucky for me, I have an awesome friend that I refer to as my "wife" that I called almost in tears at 0730 because my children needed me and I had Care-Giver Fatigue, already. She told me to bring kiddos to her and to take a nap, in all seriousness. My wife rocks. And so I loaded up the herd and dropped them at her house this morning. And then I shut the blinds, turned phone to "phone calls only" noise setting, and curled up on the couch with my DVR remote. AH. Pure Bliss. I picked kids up after dinner, washed them, read to them and put them to bed. :) It was heavenly.
I love the way Army Wives (past and present) just get it. My wife/friend just knew that I needed this day more then I knew that I needed this day. She knows because she's been there. It made me think of all of my Army Wifeys. Army has brought us together in the strangest of ways, at the strangest of times, but yet, we're still here. Army is this crazy beast that puts people together through the hardest times of their lives and then the absolute second that the hard times start to subside, Army physically rips you away from your new family. And while that sounds hard and gut-wrenching, it's also AMAZING. It's very much a "make it or break it" friendship style. I think it's amazing because if you're able to still remain AWESOME friends when you are scattered all over the United States (and world...), then you know that your friends are always there for you. There's no pretend, no "well I'd love to help, but....", no judgement--just honest friendship. None of us have the same family history, we didn't grow up down the street from each other, our families aren't old family friends, and we (rarely) didn't go to school together, but yet, here we are...best friends through all because of Army. My kiddos legal guardians (if something should happen to both of us at the same time AND my mom goes insane..yah it's actually stated like that in our wills....) are Army friends that I met for the first time 4 years ago. Now we have arranged marriages with our kids and we spend holidays together and we drove out and helped when we had babies, because that's how we Army Wifes do things.
So yah, Army sucks sometimes. Deployments suck. Training sucks. Moving sucks. I can't tell you what I wouldn't give to sleep in past 0635 on a weekend, but when push comes to shove and we're at low points, or even our lowest, the first people to step up are always our Army Wives. Always. And so when people ask/comment "I don't know how you do it". I tell them--it's not just "me", it's "we" and "we" just get it--we see a need, we fill it. We know when to ask and when to just do. We do this because we're proud of our "family" and we want them to succeed in every avenue of life. We see this life as an adventure.
My Army Guy joined the Army to be a part of something bigger and to make a difference in the world prior to 9/11. I went along with it because well in my family Army/Air Force is a rite of passage. I've never been exceedingly patriotic. I didn't know all of the words to the Star Spangled Banner 10 years ago when he signed on the dotted line.*GASP* But I do now. I can't sing it though because I literally get sobby every time I hear the song. I'm pathetically proud. But Army Guy gave me this pride and Army Wifeys showed me how to apply it. And they've made me a stronger, better person for it just by being there in any way that they can be.
And most of all, they let me get my DVR down to 47% full today.
2 comments:
Oh Greta...how I wish we could meet in person. You see, in our nearly 10 years of active duty, I won't lie--I've had a "dry" spell the last 3 years or so when it comes to really feeling like I had that family tie with my Army wives. It was really starting to get me down. REALLY DOWN. But reading this was a glimmer of hope that my dry spell was just that--a dry spell and not the beginning of the end so to speak. That I will get back to a post/unit/duty station where I meet my "wife" as you call it and feel that connection again. Thanks for writing this.
I love this post! Awesome tribute to Army Wifeys! We DO get it and I'm glad you had someone who "got it" exactly when you needed her. Yay!
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