I have made out my list of 11 days of reasons ahead of time, and it is so fun to see how each day just makes sense. Let me explain this. On my calendar, today’s reason why I am thankful for this military life is the community. This is fitting of today because I had the privilege to attend a summit for military spouses, The USO-Salute to Military Spouses. The entire event could have summed up this entire series, but what stood out to me the most was what organizations like the USO do to help build up and support the military families as a community.
Our community is very important. This life in the military is unique, but being able to have others around to support you makes it so we are truly never alone. The community of the military could be as small as you and your next door neighbor, or as big as knowing multiple other military families scattered all across the globe. However, there is more to the community than just knowing another military family, it is about being there for another family or person to support them and walk beside them on this journey of the military life.
I am thankful that the military family is established. I do not have to go and create programs to find other military families. This has already been done by several organizations and resources. I am thankful for these resources. If you are reading this, and you are a part of this military life in any way but feel like you do not have a community, I promise there is a place for you. Somewhere someone else is waiting or looking for you to join them in their community. I know I said I do not have to create programs, but if you have the desire to offer a program to create a community for others like you, then GO FOR IT! Seriously, that is what community is all about, and the community of this military life has plenty of room for more growth.
There have been moments that what I thought would be a waste of time or just routine things, and have turned out to be some great moments of community through some resources. I use to work at the CDC (Child Development Center) when I first became a part of this military community. A seasoned military spouse working there would tell me humorous stories about their military life. I clung to those stories and enjoyed them and always thought about her as I would experience different things in this military life. Fast forward several years, and as my husband is checking in to a new unit, he had to check in with the FRO (Family Readiness Officer) and this is one checklist item that it is nice to go with your spouse because your FRO is a direct link to SO MANY RESOURCES! so I go in to the FRO’s office with him to meet her, well I wasn’t meeting her, I knew her!!! I knew the stories she told me several years before, and she shared her seasoned advice of the Marine Corps. I could probably write an entire post on how amazing she is, and what she was able to give to us as a military family. We went through a long-then extended deployment and she made sure each family member had the resources they needed at any time, to include myself about to give birth to my first child and she made sure to stop by and let me know that the community of the military was there if I needed them.
As I mentioned in Day 2, my children have benefitted from this community. As a parent, you want to raise your children in a loving environment with morals and strength. You also want them to be kind and welcoming to others. This can be done by modeling these things for our children by welcoming and offering simple ways to help others. I am thankful that I have been able to find within our community others that love our children like their own. When we were stationed in Japan, I remember having a really bad migraine leaving me sick for a several days (Of course the deployment curse of these things happen when your spouse leaves was present). My next door neighbor knocked on the door (gently, because she knew I had been suffering with the migraine), she handed me two large Gatorade bottles and asked if she could take my son (2-year-old at the time) to the park with her and her 5-year-old to play and give me just some time I could rest. I was so thankful that she just “knew” I needed some help (I never asked her to help) and she knew my son needed to have some time to play. She did not have to do anything extravagant or anything at all, but even just checking in on me was a great feeling of community I needed at that time.
There have been several instances in this military life that the community has made me feel complete and that I belong. There are times I get to be on the receiving as well as the giving end, and both of those roles make me thankful for this military life for the community we share with one another.