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Why MYJN?
By: Amy Rossi
When I got married and envisioned having a family, I dreamed of firsts: first words, first laughs, first steps, the first time I would see myself or my husband in our child’s personality. I knew the military would be a presence in
our family life—after all, I married a soldier—but at the time, it seemed possible for our family story, our life together, to remain our central focus.
On September 11, 2001, our family story, like so many others, changed.
As I tried to dress my six-month-old son, his hair still damp from his bath, the television played in the background. The images shifted, the sound seemingly muted in comparison to my son’s energetic squeals, until I saw what was happening, and realized that it couldn’t be a special effects stunt.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
And yet, once I did, I also had a realization: the military wasn’t just a job. It was more. I was going to need to be more.
When I look at my son today, I wonder how that moment in 2001 has impacted his life. Unlike me, he can’t remember what the world was like before 9/11, any more than he can imagine what life would be like without cell phones or the internet.
As a sixteen-year-old sophomore in high school, he, like most current military kids, has only experienced his family life in a time of war.
As a sixteen-year-old sophomore in high school, he, like most current military kids,