April is the month of the Military Child. I mean, there’s a month for everything, right? So why not one for them? Let me start off by saying that kids in any circumstance, are special. Farmer’s kids are amazingly resilient at sleeping in combine’s come harvest time. First Responder’s kids spend nights worrying about dad every time they hear a siren. Pastor’s kids get dragged to every single church potluck and hugged by strangers. And kids who’s parent’s work in banks, in fertilizer plants, in prisons and in offices, they have all learned very special ways to adapt to their own life. But I have Military Kids. So that’s what this is about. When April comes around, I see quite a few posts going around the social media world, and they start like this: ‘Your average military brat…..’. And I think… Is there an average military child? Some kids, like my husband, will move 5 or 10 times in their life. Across the country and across the world, they will watch the trucks pack up their life and they will make new friends and learn what TV shows are cool in which crowds. They will adapt to different playgrounds and different teachers. Sometimes they will even adapt to a different language. And other military kids, they will only move once. Or not at all. Some military kids will say ‘See You Later’ and watch dad’s ship sail out of sight. Some will say goodbye in a cramped room and watch the bus pull away. Some will say goodbye while dad heads to war. Some will say goodbye when mom heads on training exercise. Some will…
Here in my house, pity parties are not allowed to last the night. Sure, it’s okay sometimes to sit with your glass of wine and your bag ‘o chocolate and moan because you’re doing it on your own again, or because you’re little family won’t be complete at Christmas, or because not one child will have dad home for their birthday this year….. but then you pick your bloated, wine filled ass off that couch and you pull yourself together. Life moves on. And sometimes pulling yourself together just involves enough energy for yoga pants and wiping the grime from the toilet before someone thinks there’s a frat house using your bathroom. But it’s still progress. In my house, we move forward because experience has taught me nothing gets better if you’re waiting for the ideal moment to try. So last fall when Dh left I decided we wouldn’t be sitting on our butt waiting for community to magically appear and make this 4th deployment easier. We were going to make community. Inspired by Sarah Smiley and her book, we started our Invitations Deployment Project. Each Sunday, we invite someone new for dinner. Each Sunday, we have a new chance to expand our community. You can see previous months here: https://www.sheisfierce.net/deployment-project/ Well, as Easter approached we didn’t have a dinner lined up as most people had family plans. That’s when I found the “Meet a Muslim” project and signed our family up. I was contacted by Noor Ul Sabah and Tahir Ahmed Mirza and were invited to have dinner with their family Easter Sunday. He had not realized what day that was since it wouldn’t be part of…
