Learning Patience

One thing that military spouses learn is how to wait. In the military world there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" to do. You hurry to get to the doc's office and then you and your 3 sick kids wait for hours to see the doctor. You do a LOT of waiting. It is the nature of the beast.

The hardest waiting period is during a deployment. Your husband leaves, but before the deployment even officially starts he is gone quite a bit with training and preparation. Spouses deal with this because they know that all the training is going to help him be as safe as possible while he is gone, in a place where people want to kill him, so you want your spouse to have all the training possible.

But, then the deployment happens and no longer is GI Joe home on the weekends, he is out there fighting and protecting America. You are proud of him, and you stand behind and beside him, and you hold down the fort. All the while you go about life, but you are waiting for that next phone call, e-mail or video conference, where you can be assured that for now, he is still safe and doing what he loves.

Finally, the deployment is coming to an end. Soon your beloved will be back in your arms! You will get to hug, kiss (and yes more) and see him again. And, eventually you two will settle back into the domestic scene where you are getting tired of always picking up his dirty socks, and wondering when he will learn to just put the blender away when he is finished! Yet, you don't really mind all that much, because he is home!

Before the daily routine of married can settle back to your normal you have to wait for him to arrive. The US military is the greatest military in the history of the world, but it has its share of quirks. One of them being time. You may be told that GI Joe will arrive home at 1330 hours on March 18, but that isn't written in concrete. Waiting to be able to hold him in your arms once again requires patience. You know that he will eventually be home, but the given time is just a rough estimate.

Being a military wife is a high calling, it is an awesome responsibility, and it has many perks. There is nothing like the military for camraderie and support through all of life's ups and downs, but it does require that you learn patience, and I believe much prayer as well. A good prayer time will help you get through all the waiting that is necessary in this life. Prayer is the fastest road to patience!

-JLK-