Favorite Quote

Have I told you this is my favorite quote? I adopted it early, early on in my marriage. This is THE piece of advice I give out to new Army spouses.

So, so often friends whose husbands did the same or a similar job as mine but for different bosses would get home HOURS earlier than my own husband, or not have to go on this trip or that field exercise or that deployment. Or that OTHER deployment. And then turn around and go again... Or maybe they got to come home early from the deployment. Or they didn't have to leave her in the hospital 12 hours after she pushed out her first baby and was still on Magnesium from her undiagnosed Pre-Eclampsia to fly to California for work that was absolutely unnecessary. (DO NOT GET ME STARTED) Or maybe they didn't have to cancel their ding dang wedding because of an extended deployment. Yeah, that's a good example. They probably got to get married on the date they planned to.

But.

So, so often my own husband would get to come home earlier from this or that field exercise. Or just home for a hot meal and a shower before going out again - purely by nature of his position. My own husband made to the birth of every single one of our children. Though my husband has deployed several times - he has always come home.

Thank God.

That's what I tell wives when they complain about deployments or endless trips.

Someone begged for what you've got.

Someones husband never came home from that deployment.

Sure, it's hard when literally every single one of your friends has a partner IN HER HOME but you, but so far, he's always come home, and that needs to be enough.

You can NOT compare your journey as an Army spouse to someone else's. It's impossible to level the playing field. Someone always, always has had it worse than you. Someone always, always, is praying for what you've got. And frankly, someone always has it much easier, too.

Comparison is the thief of joy.