My Salute

Military wife; the toughest job in the military.

Since I've never been a military wife, or served in the military, I cannot exactly prove the statement above.  However, my with un-expert opinion based on having several friends with husbands in the military, (and expertise gathered by watching Lifetime's Army Wives), I can say that it takes an incredibly strong and faithful woman to be married to a military man.   

My friend Stephanie is in town this week visiting from her new home in Virginia.  We spent our Saturday lounging in her parents pool, just as we have done countless times during our friendship since the sixth grade.  Her phone began to ring, which caused both of us to sprint out of the pool and race to her chair.  I was closer, so I grabbed her phone to make sure we didn't miss the call.  When we were thirteen, and this scene played out, we were racing to the phone because we were hoping some cute boy we were crushing on was calling.  Yesterday, our urgency was so she wouldn't miss a call from her deployed husband, who only can call every few days or so.  I watched as the newlywed's spent a cherished twenty minutes together.  Stephanie handed me the phone, because Justin wanted to say hello and I was shocked to find out that there is a five second delay attributed to the 6,000 mile difference.  Not only is Stephanie's "new normal" adjusting to life in a new state without her new husband to be by her side for daily life and support, but their phone conversation isn't even "normal."  

My thoughts wandered to my longest dating relationship. For two and a half years, we never went a day without talking. Not a single day.  Stephanie goes days without talking to her husband.  She works, keeps their condo, and manages their finances. She spent Valentine's Day and her first anniversary without her husband. Last week she had to learn how to sell a car! Which, I might add, she sold for $1000 more than the listed value.  

While I talked on the phone to Justin and tried to adjust to the delay, I thought how had it must be for Stephanie.  But do you know what she turned and said to me as she hung up the phone?  

"Have I told you how much I love being married?"  

Yes, this deployment has required a complete readjustment of their relationship, but they keep God in the center as their strength, and it shows! 

Stephanie is a good wife.  She surprised her husband with and iPad2 for deployment.  Not just any iPad.  It was loaded with something for each day of his seven month deployment.  She included sermons for every Sunday he would miss church and songs, books, and pictures he would like.  She got a different family to commit to praying for him each week that he is gone, and each family wrote a letter he can open during that week.  She brilliantly password protected them, since Justin is terribly impatient with those kind of things. She emails him the password each week. She even blogs about his Days Aweigh in hopes that her experience might help another military wife needing encouragement.  

This is not the star of some Lifetime TV show, or heart wrenching movie about military life, this is my one of my best friends.  She lives everyday in a world that most married women cannot imagine, and she does it an amazing grace and peace while showing unfailing support and love for her husband.  I am so proud of her and the woman she is becoming. I love you, Stephanie!