Day One: The Family of a Soldier

Have you ever really considered all the sacrifices that our military and their families make on a daily basis? I really don’t or didn’t until I moved into a military community. Even living in the environment I live I am pretty oblivious to the constant struggle families of deployed servicemen and women go through. Can you imagine the constant fear and agony of not knowing if your partner, son, daughter, sister or brother will live or die? I feel privileged that I am surrounded by people who are willing to make those sacrifices for me.
My neighbor has two beautiful daughters. Her husband is in Afghanistan fighting for freedom and is on his third deployment. Shortly before he left for the latest deployment his wife gave birth to their second child. He has been gone for months and has missed many of his children’s milestones. He will be gone for at least a year with maybe one or two short leaves.
I went Costco today and bought a poinsettia….not a big deal at for me to do this…a $13 dollar purchase.
When I got home I went next door and I rang my neighbor’s door bell. She opened the door and looked a little confused with me standing on her porch with a big red plant in hand. When she opened the door I said to her “I wanted you to know that there are people out there that recognize the sacrifices that you and your husband are making to keep this country safe. It can’t be easy raising kids alone with no support. I appreciate you and many others appreciate you. I wanted you to know that”. She started to cry and so did I. We both wept and held each other.
The first person she spoke of after our embrace was her husband. She said that it was getting easier because the weather was changing in Afghanistan and that hopefully the “activity” was less. In other words, less violence means less chance of her husband losing his life to war. She thought of her husband and his service over her difficult situation of being a single mom and home alone.
We hugged again and I left still crying. I came home and cried some more and realized that $13 dollars and ten minutes can go a long way.