Home Is Where The Navy Sends Us

If you are a Navy Wife then you have probably heard the phrase, "If the Navy wanted you to have a wife they would have issued you one in your sea bag." When I got married I walked out of that church and went under an arch of swords, I was then swatted on the ass by one of the biggest guys I had ever seen and he said, "Welcome to the Navy Mrs. Hancock!" Never a truer statement is made then when one marries a Navy man, we ourselves, join the Navy. Sometimes I begin to think that maybe I do have some voice in where the Navy sends us but when it comes down to it, I don't. We go where we are needed and we are expected to make the best of it.

I will be the first person to tell you that I don't have all the answers. It takes me MONTHS to settle into a place and make a house a home, as our children become more aware of their surroundings I am realizing I need to make this more of a priority. Only a 5 year old that has moved 4 times in 18 months will get excited about pictures being hung on the walls. My husband's job in the Navy requires him to be gone from home days or even months on end, my job requires me to be AT home days and months on end. This is what we Navy wives do. We become the rock that our children cling to and look to for steadiness when their lives feel like the rug is being shifted underneath them again. We are a soft place for our husbands to fall when the come home from working 20 hrs straight and need to vent about their day, I can always call another spouse to commiserate about purple marker on the wall and bank statements that never seem to quite balance out. Somehow we manage to keep the home fires burning even when we run out of energy and optimism to fuel it. I have learned to smile politely when people remind me for the thousandth time when I am on a walk with 3 kids and dog that I have my hands full.

Crazy, right? Maybe, but it is a life of service. A service to my family, my loved ones, my husband and my country. I stand unwaveringly behind my man so he can do his job. He can go out, and as far as my son is concerned, get the bad guys every day and know that there is nothing for him to worry about here at home. I will be on the pier to wave goodbye and I will be there to welcome him home. So who cares where the Navy sends us. Would it be nice if it were a tropical paradise away from the clouds of sand gnats with teeth like Ginsu Knives? Of course, but if it's not, that's okay. Home is where the Navy sends us and when we get there I'll be sure to hang pictures right away.

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Ruth 1:16