In addition to Thanksgiving festivities galore, November also hosts the Month of the Military Child and the girls loved the celebration on base. It was nice to see the entire chain of command get involved--the wing commander and his wife even handed out medals and care packages to each child with a deployed parent. This is something I might not have appreciated as much before I was a parent, because I have now experienced firsthand, and repeatedly, the struggles each child faces when their parent leaves--no matter how young they are. Even while Matt's participation in ROTC and pilot training have left him stateside the past three years, the time commitment and schedule uncertainty of these endeavors certainly take their toll on his relationship with the kids, and they are such amazing troopers. They have developed such a good and patriotic attitude about his and our family's mission and have developed such a strong, special, and unique (in terms of unprecedented roughhousing) bond with their dad.
I was also in considerable awe when I saw how many dual-military parents served at our AFB. Considering Matt and I met in the military--and saw dual careers in our future--until pregnancy hormones hit and I decided to separate after 5 years' served--primarily d/t fear of dual-deployment--although probably even one deployment would kill me [I am an extremely hover-y mother...the most time I spent apart from either one of my girls was when I was in the hospital giving birth to my youngest--and my oldest still visited every day].
Here are some cute memories from the day:
Hula-hoop & ice cream eating contests:
Glamming it up with camo face paint:
I can't even fathom dual-deployment. How wonderful that there is so much support for families.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean! But it is truly amazing what families and kids can adjust, particularly when they don't know any different. H regularly talks about how she is going to decorate "her next room" (since we move so much, lol). Every family I have met that is dual-mil, though, has had an amazing support network in terms of extended family involvement. And every base has wonderful resources (monthly free meals and free childcare [so the remaining parent can have an occasional night off], counseling services, lawn care [usually the shop will step in and take care of the family's yard during deployments, etc.]. Like one big family sometimes. :O)
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