My Hero

Today is Veterans Day and this year, it has been more meaningful than any I've experienced before.  Luke has been in the Navy for 8 years now and his service has given me a much greater appreciation for our military.  But it wasn't until the last year or so that I was really able to experience real military life.  We always lived off base and I would rarely see other military families, and when he was deployed to Iraq, I moved home.  When we moved to California, we decided to live on the base because knew Luke would be deploying and we heard that the support system was amazing.  And it totally is.  I was able to share my burden with women who knew exactly what I was going through.  I had friends I could go to for help within a week of moving into our house.

But, you see, this community has to be supportive because it is also a difficult place to live.  We love our husbands and wives and the separations from them are incredibly painful.  When Luke was gone during his deployments, I was numb, and when he came back, it was amazing and beautiful and it made all that awfulness kind of disappear.  I compartmentalized it all off in my brain somehow and it is just this thing that happened.  But seeing other families going through deployments has really made me understand just what a huge sacrifice it is for the members of our military to leave their families and go serve their country on the other side of the world.  I was sitting in our front yard with Mango yesterday as the girls played with some other children and our little 3-year-old neighbor boy came up and told me that his daddy was going to be gone for more than a week and he really missed him.  His dad deployed a few days ago to Afghanistan and will be gone for 8 months.  My heart ached as I realized that his father wasn't going to be able to see that sweet face and hold his little boy for such a long time.  

I also had the amazing opportunity yesterday to go with a friend and take pictures as she and her children welcomed her husband home.  It was only three months ago that we were there in the exact same place welcoming Luke home.  My hands were shaking as I watched him hold his little ones for the first time in several months, just as Luke had held his daughters.  Honestly, I don't think I understood until then what a huge sacrifice it was for Luke to leave them behind.  I mean, I had always known it was difficult, but it took me seeing it from the outside to really get it.  I still can't truly understand it, and I don't think I ever will.  I haven't had to say goodbye to my beautiful daughters for more than a night in the last 8 years.  But living here has made me appreciate more what Luke has given in the service of his country.  And he has always done it for us, to keep us safe, to keep us secure.  And I am so grateful for the amazing opportunity I have to be his wife.  Luke is absolutely my hero and I thank God for the time we have together because every moment is a gift.  

Thank you to all those who have served and sacrificed for our country, especially all the husbands and fathers, and wives and mothers.  And especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and given your lives for our freedom.  Blessings upon your families.