I planned a karaoke night out last weekend. I invited a bunch of new
military friends and old ones and almost everyone showed up (even one non-mil yogi friend of mine, who hung with us military wives like she was one of us!) Several of
them showed up not knowing anyone but me, one showed up having only met me on Facebook, and another showed up not knowing me at all.
I sat back just for a moment
and realized how precious this was, this moment in time. When everyone
around me was smiling and laughing and singing our fool heads off with brand new friends, strangers (you would call them in the "real" world). I
quickly realized my non-mil friends would never do this, show up and be
silly in front of people they had only just met. But as a military spouse we learn to make fast friends, we realize we all have
something in common, and we have to rely on each other. There is an
unspoken trust among military spouses and I can't name the number of times we
have watched each others kids while we unpack in a new place or go see a
doctor, with only having just met. This is what real friendships are
made of. We put aside our cultural, regional, even parental differences
and we trust, we hold each other steady, we bail each other out, and for
these women I will be forever grateful.
In a few short years hopefully we will have retired from the military, given them the best years of our life and in return received tremendous amounts of growth spiritually and culturally. Our strength as a family to sustain strong relationships despite absences and separations will all be worth it. We will look back and see the friendships we made with these people, like family. It's not easy, but it's worth it. And you son, will be all the better for it. We can do this! At age seven, you still say you want to be an Airman, even though you hurt inside having your dad gone, and I believe this is because you see our strength as a family and what a beautiful military family we have.
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