About 6 women came to my house, and there were 6 kids total. All of the kids (5 girls, one boy) were under the age of 2, so it was a ton of fun! Rocky had an absolute blast. This was the first time that I realized that toddlers are essentially the human version of Rocky. They would steal something out of someone's bag, and then Rock would. They would reach their little hands up on the counter to grab a cookie, and then Rocky would. Rocky would take one of their toys, give it back to them, and then they'd give it back to Rocky and laugh. It was so much fun, and made me so happy to see that he was so good with them (while having fun himself). Caroline and Rocky both have a lot to look forward to.
Pics from the Cookie Exchange:
Yummy!
Rocky and a New Friend
It is always fun to get together with other spouses in Greg's unit. It always gets me thinking. First of all, it's incredibly nice and relaxing to be with other people going through the exact same thing that I am. Their husbands are gone, they are solo moms for seven months, they have to deal with primitive communication techniques, and they are all marching towards that same homecoming date. After spending the majority of my time with people who aren't going through this, it is almost therapeutic to be with these women. This is the only group of people who I don't have to have the same conversation with about how the deployment's going, what Greg's up to, etc, because they know. They are also some of the very few people I can be with who don't make me feel like I am a walking tragedy - a woman with a loving husband who couldn't be around for his first child's birth, let alone the first 6.5 months of her life. Yes, that's very sad, but you know what? I will put money on the fact that there are at least 30 babies born to wives of 3/4 during this deployment. I know 5 alone, and Greg just read an article about a unit that returned home to 77 new babies! My point is, my situation is unfortunately all too common in the military; however, because of this, I have many people who have been through the same thing and know exactly what I'm going through.
My favorite aspect of spending time with 3/4 wives (or really any military wife, especially one that is going through or has been through a lot of training or a recent deployment) is the incredible strength and optimism that each one has. I've noticed in the past year I've developed an extremely thick skin for things that would normally really upset people for months on end - having new training dates pop up at the last minute, leaving me alone for a week or two; having deployment dates shift seemingly every day; having the location of the deployment shift from Iraq to Afghanistan; finding out Greg will be here when the baby is born and then finding out less than a month before that he will be leaving before she arrives. These things have all upset me, but I find (by the grace of God, truly) that I am over it in a couple of days. And then I move on, and I'm not sure why, but I'm happy again. I may be a little bitter, and believe me some good old fashioned cynicism has definitely become a part of my sense of humor, but I truly do just move on. My point is, I'm not the only one who has had to develop this trait. Each and every one of the women who was at my house was laughing, telling funny stories about what their kids have been up to, and just enjoying each other's company. Everyone there was laid back, and I don't think it was because of their personalities; I think it's because of the cards they've drawn and the positive attitude they have attacked the military life with.
Some of the women I have become friends with out here couldn't be more different than I am. Some are from the Midwest (where I have spent about 15 minutes of my life) or the Pacific Northwest, or Texas, a state I have nothing to say about except that driving through it is miserable. Some have never been to college, and some had two kids before they were 21. It really doesn't matter - all have the same resolve and the same amazing strength that I know outshines even the most accomplished Wall Street broker or top executive any day. If more people had this optimism and strength (which I think frankly is hard to develop without extremely trying situations), I think we'd all believe in ourselves a lot more.
Sorry to go off on a tangent. I'm just so impressed by these women that I wanted to share how I felt to all of you!
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