You left behind family, friends, and your hometown to join your spouse on this journey.
You understand that your education, your career, and your preferences will always come second to your spouse's career.
You learned all the acronyms just so you can communicate in this esoteric world.
You know that plans can always change and that most of the time they do change, at least once, so you've learned not to hold any plans too tightly.
You experience heart-wrenching anxiety when you see a strange car drive slowly past your house.
You are a single parent for months on end, all the while assuring your children of things you're not even sure of yourself.
You watch your loved one get on the plane because you have no choice. And instead you focus all of your energy on counting down the days until homecoming.
You compact your life into dozens of little boxes and watch it all pull away on a truck only to unpack it a few weeks later in a new house, in a new city, in a new state.
You are a military spouse. And today I'd like to say thank you for the sacrifices you have made.
The rest of us have no idea. We think of the men and women who are enlisted and the sacrifices they make, and I'm afraid a lot of us (myself included) fail to thank the families who are making sacrifices. Thank you for reminding us. A friend at our co-op has helped me see the struggle, too.
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