Salute to Spouses Blog

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PCS, More than Planning, Preparing for Goodbye

PCS season is coming.

And leaving, is tough.

I’m not talking about prepping for the moving company, making that long drive or flight or collecting all the medical, school and military records. I’m talking about leaving.

Walking away from friends.

Visiting your favorite local restaurant for the last time.

Turning the key in the door to a house you may have felt the most comfortable in.

Looking around this small piece of the Earth and knowing that you may never step foot here again. Ever.

It’s hard.

I’ve had several friends PCS this month. Watching the feed on their Facebook page was heartbreaking. They loved where they lived. They logged every last meal, laugh, moment.

And then, the photo of the airport gate.

Military life is, I believe, one of the toughest lives for a family. The best military wives I know understand that nothing is forever, and they embrace every single place they live – the good, the bad and the horrible. They find something spectacular to love, even in the most difficult of places.

The most successful military wives find that there is always pain when they leave. They worked hard to build a life here and be happy. That is hard to leave behind. In other places, they literally feel they need to be dragged away because they just don’t want to go.

I hope the people they leave behind, the neighbors who worry about the impact of the military on their quiet lives and the naysayers who believe we are all trouble, understand that we take a piece of them with us everywhere we go. That we have happy memories. That they are part of the stories we tell, the laughs we share and the memories we tell our children when they can’t quite remember a name or place.

They have helped create the fabric of our life and we are forever grateful.

So as you PCS this year, stop amid the craziness of the preparations. Walk to your favorite place in town. Have lunch with a friend you are leaving behind. Take a deep breath and look around. Soak it in.

You may never see this place again. Take a moment to make sure you carry it with you. Always.

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