Thursday, May 12, 2011

Being a Coastie Wife..... Callin in the Calvary!!

One of my very first "jobs" when we get to a new location is to immediately establish a support group.
Some places have been easier than others. And its mostly a cultural thing. Making friends that you can trust truly only depends on how ready everyone else is to allow you into "the fold".
In the military we can't wait that long.
I once had a friend tell me, "I don't have time to play around here, I need a best friend to get me through this or to find someone else."
She was recounting a conversation to another person, but I remember just being in awe of how strong she was and how I could never see myself as so bold (although at times I wish I could be).
But support through other wives, civilian friends, church groups, etc. its all very important and vital to ones sanity.
"It takes a village to raise a child."
It also takes one to keep a Momma sane.
Problem comes when we move so often and at the same time as others living this crazy life that we find ourselves in an area where we need people but haven't been there long enough to really establish a support group.
Where do we get help, when the only people we "know" are the people your husband works with and they are all in the same boat?
No body wants to just hand their kid over to a stranger, nobody wants to unpack the house alone, and nobody wants a bunch of random people coming in and helping you unpack your "unmentionables".
It can be stressful, but we always manage to find a way, find some friends, or maybe one friend who each of us knows with just a look that we are in this boat together and there is this unspoken bond of "This country is what ties us together, and and we care for it and each other like we do our children so you can depend on me."

And then?

There are times when you just have to call in the Calvary.
Also Known As
Momma.
For you it may be a sibling, your Dad, or a best friend from High School.
For me it's my Mom.
And when we sat down and looked at the timetable we had in front of us and the craziness of Mike's schedule I knew what I had to do.
I called Momma.
I knew that I needed some kind of reprieve, help, something that either I couldn't get here because I didn't know if I had the stamina to endure the uncertainty of moving without my husband.
She'll be here in a few hours.
:)
Though the trip is not quite the time I had originally expected, it is perfect. She will be coming to give us the needed relief, breather if you will to withstand the next few weeks.
Of course I'm going to put her to work too!
Hey I can't paint AND cook at the same time can I?
So here's to the Calvary, the ones that are local and the ones you fly in to save your sanity.
The village no longer has walls.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This is just SOOOOOO true. You gotta do what you gotta do to keep you sane! That's why I'm hauling my children all over the continental US currently....with 7 months of Daddy away...Mama needs her calvary to keep sane!!! Hang in there chica, and I'm glad you're Mama is there to help ya out :D

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