ALL I DID WAS FALL IN LOVE WITH A BOY
It was 1998, and I was 18 years old and about to go on a
blind date with a gorgeous National Guardsmen. I had no
idea that 18 years, nine deployments, one 1850 Victorian
rehab, three beautiful children, and temporarily moving to
four different states, that I would be a military wife.
I fell head over heels in love with this 19-year-old boy
on my front porch. He was from a little town an hour away,
he was funny, smart, and had the most beautiful blue eyes.
He had recently completed basic training and tech school
through the Air Force, which at the time really didn’t mean
that much to me. He was enrolled in college and worked at
the Air National Guard base one weekend a month, but was
basically like any other college student. Again, the whole military part really didn’t affect me.
Then September 11th, 2001 happened. We had been dating for almost three years, we were engaged and planning a
traditional wedding in May of 2003. Everything changed that
day. This whole aspect of this person that I loved came in to
focus. He was in the military, his life belonged to the United
States of America, and they could send him wherever they
want, whenever they wanted and this was something he was
proud of. It was an awakening for me; did I really know what
I was getting into? Did I really understand the gravity of the
commitment I was making not only to this man but also to my
country? Did I want to live a life with this level of uncertainty?
But I was in love with this boy, now a man. And yes, yes I
92 | Holl & Lane, Issue 3
was willing to take on this life, this commitment, and become
his military wife.
By the grace of God, we made it to our wedding day at
the ripe old ages of 23 and 25. We were able to go on an
amazing honeymoon. After which we returned to the house
we had purchased a couple months before the wedding,
in his hometown an hour away from my family and friends,
which had been built in 1850. It was a complete rehab, more
appropriately a gut job. But that is a story for another article. We began to settle in as a married couple when about
four weeks later we received the call we had been dreading
for over a year. “You are deploying in two weeks.” He left
home at 4:00 a.m. on a Monday in August. And I learned
the true meaning of fear and worry. Now this was not the
deployments of today, with cell phones, established bases,
and Facetime. This was the beginning of the second Iraq
war, with tents, limited dial up Internet, and once a week
calls from a satellite phone that lasted between six and ten
minutes at a time. And the danger, worry, and fear every time
I turned on the news. I was scared all the time, scared that
he would call and I would miss it, scared that he wouldn’t call
and something had happened to him, and also scared because I had never lived on my own, especially in a torn apart
home with no ceilings and bats everywhere. Again, another
article all together.
It was nine days before I got the static filled phone call
from 8000 miles away. And it wasn’t as romantic as you