Veteran's Day from a Veteran's Wife

I copied this post that my friend Amanda wrote on her facebook page yesterday. Amanda is one of the very first gals I formed a friendship with after moving to Washington. In the short time that we've been here, we've gotten to experience some huge things in her life, like the birth of her third beautiful baby girl and her husband's deployment (those events happened simultaneously by the way). In fact, in the two years that we have lived here, her husband, Dan, has been gone for more than half of that time. Every single time I see Amanda, I am amazed. She's such an incredible military wife and mom to three beautiful girls. I am so thankful God has put her in my life and am blessed to call her "friend." She has shared her heart and thoughts on Veteran's day so beautifully that I had to share this with you.

In two hours it will be Veterans Day... I have been pondering all day the sacrifices my husband has made while serving our country. It seems like everyone knows someone serving in the military, or someone who has served, and someone's husband, brother, mother, sister, cousin, best friend's uncle, etc etc has been serving here and overseas... Everyone in this country is attached to someone in the military in some way it seems. That is a good thing, I believe. It should help people support the troops easier. It should encourage people to remember that living with the freedoms we have comes at a price.

Here are some of our prices paid... Dan has been serving for somewhere in the ballpark of 12 years now. Maybe 11, but either way, it's more than 10. It seems like some of the biggest moments in our lives have been moments we've had to celebrate apart. In almost seven years of marriage, he has not been home for at least half of it. He missed my college graduation (and my high school graduation, but that's an entirely different story!). Lucky for me, he WAS around for our wedding, but barely :) We had to reschedule it a couple times. He was gone when we found out we were expecting our first child. He missed Brooke's first birthday. He missed Brooke's third birthday. In fact, he missed her 4th and 5th birthday too. He missed Raelyn's first birthday. He missed her standing for the first time. When Raelyn turned two, Daddy was missing.

The sacrifices he's made keep going... When I had a miscarriage, he was over 1000 miles away training for deployment. When I found out I was pregnant with our third child (4th pregnancy for those of you keeping track), he was overseas. He missed Natalie's birth. He missed a lot of her firsts. He missed her first crawls, her first time pulling-up, her first tooth...

There are too many things that he has missed. I share this not to complain--not at all. I share this because he chose to make these sacrifices for me, for his girls, for you...and for every person in this nation. He chose to sacrifice what so many take for granted, to put his life on the line to help protect our country, and to do what so many other men and women in the military are also doing for this country, past and present.

In the heat of the "battle" (no pun intended), I sometimes wonder if the sacrifices are worth it. But...in the aftermath, and in the quiet moments of reflection, I know that yes, they are worth it. I am blessed to have a hard-working, sacrificial husband who provides for his family and allows me to stay home with our girls, even when most months it seems that there are more bills than money. He keeps sacrificing so we can keep living.

I love my veteran. I thank God for him and for all the other veterans and service members, and their families, who have experienced and are experiencing the costs of sacrifice. May we never take it for granted.

-Amanda Stryker Taylor