My neighbor moved into her house on Saturday, received her household goods on Monday, and had a baby on Wednesday. The rest of the neighbors on our street were truly wowed. People heard her story bug-eyed and could not help but remark, "How did she do that?? I could never have done that myself."
I always wonder why that kind of thing wows people. Why do people think that they can't do what we military families can do? Do our neighbors think we are some kind of super race? Are they saying they are truly incapable? Or are they using those words like a talisman to keep the difficulties of life at bay?.
Six years ago, my friend DeltaSierra commented and told the story of how she miscarried while her husband was deployed. I jumped right in and said that that was something I had never imagined having to do alone. When I was using those words, I had no idea that I would survive the exact same heartache a little over a year later. And then again while my husband was at SERE school. Suddenly I could do what she could do because I had to.
I think we're always capable of so much more than we think. Military spouses aren't some special kind of superhuman group of souls that can handle so more than other people can handle. Instead I think we wake up every day and do the tasks life puts in front of us.
None of us wants to have a baby while unpacking household goods. None of us wants to deal with tragedy alone. But we can. And we do.
December is a good time to think about how much we have accomplished during the long course of the year. In one way or another, you wowed your neighbors--whether you think it was wow-worthy or not. What did you do this year that you didn't think you were capable of doing? What did you survive, accomplish, or overcome? We want to know.
