And it's not even about military spouses. Have you seen it?
If you have kids, you'll probably know exactly which movie I'm giving the dialog from. You probably will even say the lines along with me...
Frozone: Honey, Where is my Super-Suit?
Honey: What?
Frozone: WHERE-IS-MY-SUPER-SUIT!
Honey: Uh, I put it away.
Frozone: Where?
Honey: Why?
Frozone: I need it!
Honey: WHY do you need to know?
Frozone: I need it!
Honey: Uh-uh! Don't you think about running off doing no derrin'-do. We've been planning this dinner for two months!
Frozone: The public is in danger!
Honey: My evening is in danger!
Frozone: You tell me where my suit is, woman! We are talking about the greater good!
Honey: Greater Good? GREATER GOOD? I am your WIFE! I am the greatest GOOD you are EVER going to get!
Since Frozone shows up later in the movie (The Incredibles, for those who haven't guessed yet), full regalia, to save the world; we can only assume his wife dealt with her feelings and gave him the super suit so he could go do his job and save the world. I can so totally relate.
I can't count the number of plans that hubby and I have had to scrap because the call came down the Chain of Command for him to go on short notice, put on his "Super Suit" and go save the world from imminent threat of one sort or another. Or at least to take some class learning how to save the world from imminent threat. It's not always deployments - TDY's both short and long take a toll, too.
And sometimes, like the time he had less than 24 hours notice to hit a plane and get to Greenland three days before our anniversary, I am less than graceful in my acceptance of the inevitable.
But I still do it. I, sometimes grudgingly and other times in a breathless whirlwind of trying to help, dig out the "Super Suit" and reschedule the dinner reservations. I buy the more expensive travel tickets that can be rescheduled, and I seem somewhat flaky to many of my civilian friends and family members.
I know now, after an awful long time being married and being a military spouse, that I married a man who isn't "normal" and every-day. I didn't just marry him, I married his "super suit," too. And because his "super suit" is so much a part of who he is, I have to love it and all the baggage that comes with it, too. That doesn't mean that I run around wearing red, white, and blue and singing the Star Spangled Banner 24 hours a day. It doesn't meant that at all. Sometimes I get very angry about our situation. Sometimes I feel a lot of despair. Sometimes I just want to go buy my own private island and set up my own tin-pot dictatorship that doesn't involve deployment and TDY.
But somehow I get the idea that even if we had or own country (with me as Commander in Chief, of course), complete with tax code and seat in the UN General Assembly; hubby would form an alliance with some other country that would require him to put on his "Super Suit" and rush off to save the world on a moment's notice. It's just who he is.
And me? I'm the greatest good he is ever going to get. :)
