April is the Month of the Military Child. It is the month that we celebrate the bravest, most resilient children I know.
Here's a few things that make my "military kids" different from other kids.
✷ One was born without her daddy here.
✷ They yell "DADDY!!!" when a helicopter flies over.
✷ They say things like this: "Can I throw grenades and flip tires in skinny jeans?".
✷ They have answers like this:
✷ They move every 1-2 years.
✷ The four of them were born in three different places.
✷ Since Harper has been born, her daddy has been gone for over 25 months.
✷ They are pros at making "welcome home" signs.
✷ They can tell you what RLTW means
✷ They sleep with daddy dolls, build a bears with their daddy's voice inside,and posters of their daddy on the wall.
✷ When you ask them what their daddy's job is, they say "keeping us safe".
✷ They know big words like "Afghanistan" and "deployed".
✷ They know to say "I love you" and "I am proud of you" and "Be careful,Daddy" every chance they get.
✷ They can plan and pack a mean care package.
✷ Among Sadie's first words was "work". As in...where is daddy? "uk".
✷ They have a HUGE family. Not just sisters and mommy and daddy and grandparents...they have an extended "ranger family". Friends that are like siblings. Women who are like second mommies, who love them and admonish them gently.
✷ They make countdown paper chains several times a year.
They
are
amazing.
Brave, strong,vulnerable, honest. They shoulder more worries and fear than children should have to. I think of the fear,anxiety,and sadness that I have in my heart sometimes. Then I imagine those emotions in the body and heart of a child, and it kills me.
Here's to the month of the military child. And to my military children. The strongest of the strong.
xo
s
