Originally posted March 3, 2007–guard weekend after the year of deployment–Updated August 17, 2019.
The myth of the Weekend Warrior (AKA National Guardsman) is that one weekend a month is not too much to give up. (And it’s not, not really). But the reality is missed birthdays, school events, kid’s sports, church and family time–at least once a month, every month–and two or more weeks during the summer.
It’s important. It’s serving.
But. For some of us…
Two “sleeps” (as our children think of it) sounds like forever when you are just starting to adjust to the fact Daddy is home again. Home, but not home. Two sleeps is so monumentally better than five-hundred and twenty-four sleeps some people might wonder “What difference does it make?”
We all remember that Daddy used to leave for one weekend a month. Then one weekend turned into a year and a half. Could it happen again?
Before we became a family, Daddy and the kids would travel from Washington to Oregon to visit me. The kids remember that it is a long drive–Oregon to Washington. Now Daddy has to travel all alone, all that way. That alone is scary to kids.
But the fact is, he goes away. And for a day or two, it feels like a year again.
The reassuring aroma of coffee is gone.
Only one voice is available for dramatic interpretation of Bad Kitty.
Morning snuggles leave you only half full.
Laughter is replaced by grumps and groans.
Living becomes waiting.
In the end that one weekend a month is worth it. But never underestimate how the family is affected. Come alongside those whose spouses–male or female–are serving their country. It’s one weekend a month, but it changes everything.
How can you, or have you, supported military families?
