IN HER OWN WORDS

 

I have referred readers to The Sandbox milblog before, but this excerpt, written by a military wife, deserves special notice.  For the full post go to http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/.  The post was dated 1/13/10 and titled FOR CIVILIANS.  

I think that dealing with military families dealing with casualties has to be the hardest thing for a civilian to do. All that bi-polar schizophrenic behavior that they barely understand how to deal with in me comes out full force. At that point, I can’t keep it hidden. And how do you respond to that? Particularly if one moment I’m happy to have a hug and the next moment I don’t want anyone to touch me? What  a sticky, nasty situation to have to maneuver through.

I do understand how hard it is. I really do. But please understand how hard it is to be the one living through it. I wish I could say I would meet you half-way on this one to make it easier, but I can’t. All I can say is that if you catch me on one of these days, please just go with the flow. Understand that I’m going to be moody and just go with that.  Don’t run away and never come back, because I’ve got to be honest — the military and military families can’t do this without you. We need you, we really do, and I’ll be honest — we often feel abandoned. There aren’t that many of us — there are a lot more of you. We need the support and help of civilians, just please understand that supporting and helping us isn’t going to be easy. And some times are worse than others. 

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