It's hard to believe that our little family has already endured 20 years and 6 months of serving the US Military. Your dad did something for our freedom and this nation, that to be honest, you couldn’t pay me enough to do. He found honor, pride, and joy from serving our country and did it with gratitude for many years. He endured a deployment to Bahrain, Barbados, Afghanistan on multiple occasions, a one-year remote assignment to the Azores and countless temporary assignments away from our family. That’s approximately 4 years of our 20 years of marriage that he was gone.
He missed many of your “firsts” and watched them only if they were recorded on video. He slept many nights away from home in places that most of us wouldn’t get a wink of sleep in, with bombs and bullets going off as background noise. He saw with his eyes things no one should have to see. I am grateful he came home to us each time. I am grateful that there are other men and women out there who are brave enough to do the job. I am grateful that there are wonderful therapists and supporters of the US military who gave your dad the tools he needed to fight his Post Traumatic Stress and get him through the most difficult of moments.
I am retiring from the Air Force because even though I didn’t have the bravery to do what he has done in the last 20 years of his life, I took the role of standing beside him and walking through it with him. It was not easy and it didn’t happen without difficulty, sacrifice, and pain, as all of my fellow military spouses know.
You are retiring from the military because you no longer have to endure Dads and Donuts without a dad. You no longer have to say goodbye to the man in your life that shows you the ropes of how life is done. You no longer have to endure hearing my voice alone for months at a time. You get to be with your dad during the formative years of your life to learn how to build a car, how to treat a woman, and how to become a responsible member of society.
Our family leaves the military with joy in our hearts, knowing that the next 20 have many incredible moments that we get to make - together. We leave with the joy of knowing we are in control of our future and at the reigns of all the decisions - we - get to make. We leave with the joy of knowing the memories and friendships and experiences of the last 20 years have shaped us and have been filled with God’s greatest blessings.
I also love that you got to be a part of the ceremony and you did such an incredible job of the flag ceremony with Honor Guard.
The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp2HrhvaqSI
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