Each day when I see the newest headline that involves the military, I read it, take it in, maybe talk about it with Nick, mourn a little if it’s sad, and then put it behind me. You know: budget cuts, planes not flying, air wings being shut down, deployments being delayed, and then of course tragedies. Fatalities. Families mourning the loss of their loved ones.
All of those things hit close to home for me, but in our nice, cozy little training squadron here in Virginia Beach, nothing is too close yet. At least never close enough for me to really feel it.
Recently, there was a tragedy in the Navy . Three people died when a military jet crashed near Spokane, Washington.
I don’t know them, but I do have friends who know the victims – some who are working at the same base, and some who went to school with them; all incredibly saddened by this tragedy.
Because of this, I do feel ripples of pain. And of course, it’s hard for me to fathom how difficult that would be, losing Nick or a friend to an accident like that.
I can’t help but feel now, as we get deeper and deeper into this Navy life, that we are inching closer and closer to some of the bigger stuff, some of the things that could potentially hurt. Each year that passes it seems that more is expected from Nick as a pilot and an officer, and from us as a family as well, and with the threats of military cutbacks, it’s all a little scary. Not to mention the unmentionable happening; a tragedy like this.
So what do you do? Well, there are days when I wish we could just quit it all, and move back home, buy a nice little house and set up shop for the rest of our days. But fear isn’t a reason to quit your lives. I guess all we can do is keep on moving forward, keep on inching, and hope and pray that this tough stuff keeps its distance.
My heart hurts for all of the people who are close enough to feel this one. My love and prayers are with all of you.
