Day Two: Keeping Busy

Day Two

Keeping Busy

If you have talked to just about any military spouse with deployment experience they will tell you that the key to making it through any deployment is to “keep busy”. Our first few deployments I did not understand this concept fully. I always had a full time job but spent the rest of my time thinking about and pining for my then husband to be. Keeping busy isn’t just about your body; a busy mind is equally important.

During my husband’s first deployment to Iraq, I had a friend that had a young daughter, worked full time and was finishing up her own school while her husband to be was in Iraq.  She was constantly busy. She had a daily routine that kept her so busy there was barely time for friends. I remember thinking she was crazy to take on so much while he was gone. This was during 2003 when coverage of Iraq was 24 hours a day, hour by hour there were new reports of our men and women in combat. We were entering into a highly visible war in a way that the world had not seen before.

I had my own routine. I woke up every morning turned on the TV waiting for a report from Chip Reid from MSNBC. My day did not really begin until I heard that report. Chip Reid was embedded with my future husbands’ unit and the only way I could function was to know they were ok. After that report I could get ready for work. If there was no report, I would tape (before TIVO and DVRs) the entire time while I was gone to be played back when I returned home. I would fit surfing in my day if I had heard the report. If not, I would go back and play the tapes until I found the report. Looking back on that it seems obsessive but during a war with a huge unknown element going in, it was my way of coping. Every day was the same. In the evenings I would write him a letter, say a prayer and go to bed to start all over again the next day. There were no phone calls for the first 3 months, very few letters during that entire deployment and email wasn’t an option. It was over a month before I received the first letter from him. It was a very scary time.

I made it through with a routine, a lot of prayer, tears and letters.  In reflection, it would have been easier had I kept my mind equally as busy in another direction as was my body. It would not have meant I loved my future husband any less, just that I was trusting God more and keeping myself sane in the process.

Proverbs 31

Thank you God for helping me to stay busy and focused on the things that need to be accomplished while my loved one is away. I trust You. I know that You have a plan and a direction for our lives. I will seek out that plan and do my part today.