There is an Alan Jackson song, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning,” that contemplates the events of 9/11 and their impact on our lives.
It asks the average American where they were and how they reacted that day. The song, while popular, has little relevance to those of us who live our lives as military families.
The world didn’t stop turning for us that day. It just started to spin faster.
The years since 9/11 have gone by in the blink of an eye. Our active duty spouses have come and gone and come and gone and come and gone, again and again.
We count our milestones not by the year, but by the deployment.
When did we go to Disney World? Was that R&R the first time or the second time?
When did we have to buy that new washer? Was it during the 15-monther?
Many of us have spent the past 11 years preparing for a deployment, living through a deployment, or adjusting to life after one.
There is no drawdown in our world.
We could get out. Our spouses could leave the military, or we could leave them.
We could all just walk away.
But we can’t.
We won’t.
We make the choice every single day to stay, to stand by our families, our military and our country.
We didn’t stop living on 9/11. We embraced our lives. We grew stronger and braver and more resilient than we ever knew possible.
We are warriors, each and every one of us.
And we will never, ever, let the world stop turning.