Better than a Sorority

A few weeks back, I read a book on the recommendation of my friend Hope. It was The Ocean Between Us-about a Navy wife, on Whidbey Island no less. After 12 years in Whidbey, it was easy to spot the glaring mistakes about the locale, but still enjoyable. And as with the show Army Wives, while there was some poetic license taken for dramatic affect, it was still a pretty good portrayal about Navy wives...maybe more so about the internal battles we all sometimes have, if not for the medical appts and commissary trips. I discovered there was a very short prequal to this book, only available on the kindle, about how the main character met and married her sailor. There was a passage that really struck me. Here are the snippets from chapter 16... "That our marriage survived the stress, excitement and uncertainty of long separations is sometimes a wonder to me. One of the key elements of our survival was something I was never aware of as a civilian-the support system of spouses and families, which is the Navy's gift to us. During deployment, my life was transformed, not just by my husband's absence and my new-found independence, but by a special society very few are aware of-the world of the Navy wife. When I married Steve, I was automatically inducted into a sisterhood far more intense and real than my college sorority. This was a revelation to me. We were women from all walks of life, balanced upon a single common denominator-the United States Navy. I was gratified by the swiftness with which my sisters embraced me. We learned to make friends quickly, knowing our time together was limited. It's her job-her duty-to be willing to send him off in the service of his country, even if it meant sending him into harm's way. I don't think I could have survived that first deployment without the company of these women, each of whom knew exactly what I was going through." Looking back over my lifetime as a Navy wife, I can identify with these, and see many of my friends in it as well. I am also reminded about a poem/writing about the kinds of friends we have....reason, season and lifetime. I think that couldn't be more true than about Navy wives. I have had friends who where for a reason...like to get me through a first deployment, with a newborn baby. For a season-for various periods of my life...the time after 9/11 is a big one...there were friends I had at that time that I made wonderful memories with. It was a highly stressful time in the world, added by extended deployments with short turn arounds. It was highly evident of the wives pulling together...celebrating joys and holidays, and helping each other through the mundane day to day stuff that wore on us solely because the guys were gone. And I have friends for a lifetime-some who came in via the prior categories. It's not just someone that has been there my entire life, it's something that time can't put a qualifier on...it's about a quality in them. I am thankful for ALL of them though. They all brought something to my life and I am glad for it. I couldn't be more proud to be in my *sorority*. I swear I know how to write in paragraphs for a better flow, but apparently my blog has other ideas this morning. Sigh.