She's totally feminine, yet at times we see her mowing the lawn, balancing the checkbook or fixing a leaky faucet, and this makes her feel like the man of the house.
She usually comes in different sizes; tall, small, plump or pregnant. During the early years of her marriage, it is often hard to determine which is the normal one.
She measures time in terms of duty stations as other women use years.
At times she was alone, her husband at sea, when her child was born or when the movers came. She wonders if there is a secret pact between her husband and the service, providing for a man to be on duty or temporary duty at such times as these.
She draws on her inner strength from many sources. Some are country girls, some city girls and some even from other countries. She may be a nurse, a teacher or a secretary but the bond she shares with everyone else here today is that she's a Military Wife.
When transfer time rolls around, she must smile and put on an Academy Award winning performance to convince her children that they'll love the new place. At the same time, she wonders whether he can handle this new assignment. And all the time she knows that no one really wants to leave. In her heart, she silently wonders if it is worth the sacrifice, but she goes. Because she is a Military Wife.
An ideal wife has the patience of an angel, the flexibility of putty, the wisdom of a scholar and the stamina of a horse. If she dislikes money, it helps.
She carries her memories in a shoe box full of old photographs which she still intends to mount someday. Some might say she's a bigamist, sharing her husband with his mistress called DUTY. When duty calls, she becomes the #2 wife. Until she accepts this fact, her life can be miserable.
She is above all, a woman who married a serviceman who offered her the permanency of a gypsy, the miniseries of loneliness, the frustrations of conformity and the security of love.
Sitting among the packing boxes with squabbling children nearby, she is sometimes willing to chuck it all. And then she remembers just how much we depend on her. How much we rely upon her so we may indulge ourselves in our careers. Then she hears the firm steps and the cheerful voice of the lug who gave her all this and she knows she made the right choice. And she is happy to be a Military Wife.
~ Author Unknown
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