A week from today will mark quite a milestone for Chris and I - ten years of marriage! It also means something else for me...ten years as an Army Wife. Not only an Army Wife, but a true blue Infantry Wife.
I'll admit, it didn't quite turn out like I'd thought it would. We got married pre-9/11, in an Army that was not at war, and hadn't been for quite some time. Army life was not difficult then. Sure, you had the odd peace-keeping mission to Kosovo, and long field training exercises, but never did I think I would have to actually send my husband off to war. Then came September 11th, and the world came crashing down.
Then came the time that all Army Wives found out what they were truly made of. We sent our loves off to war, more than once. We sat by the phone for weeks, wishing it would ring and then also praying it wouldn't, because it was always bad news. We had babies while our husbands waited for news in a tiny little room in the Iraqi desert. We cried when our husbands came home, and we cried for those who didn't. Then we turned around and did it all over again.
It hasn't been easy, but there is something fulfilling about knowing that you CAN do it. You made it through, you've earned the right to call yourself a war wife, and stand with our Grandmothers and all those women who came before us. Sometimes you hear people say, "Oh I could never let my husband go off to war, I could never do that." Rather than get irritated at their lack of compassion, I just smile and say, "you're right...you couldn't."
Am I proud of who I am? You betcha. Would I change it? Never in a million years. They say that war will test a soldier's mettle, and it's equally true for those who stand behind them. While war would never be my first choice, it has helped to make me who I am.
Here's to the next decade.
