It's not often we get to feel that we are part of history. That something historic has happened and that we've been a part of it. In fact, that without us - it might not have happened. We may have seen the landing on the moon, the wall coming down, Chinese students with more guts than we could ever muster, the start of Shock and Awe, the famous "I have a dream" speech......but we weren't part of it.
A few weeks ago, I was part of a very small bit of history - the changing of a military 'Wives' Club to a 'Spouses' Club. And I was very proud to be a small part of it.
Since I moved to Ohio, 2 1/2 years ago, there have been several votes on this issue. We always fell just shy of the votes we needed to get the motion passed. We seemed doomed to be a hold out on history. The older spouses, who just happened to be wives, were steadfast in their belief that we should always be a wives club, that the name was our history.
But in an environment where we needed 68 votes to pass the name change, we got 68 votes. It was the first time I can remember that my vote really made a huge impact. Had I not been there and voted, it would have remained the wives club. There is a bizarre pride I take in being a part of this process, in being a harbinger of change....or a reflection of the 'now'.
So why am I hung up? Why don't I sound a bit more enthusiastic? I wonder if the male spouses will respond to this implicit invitation to become members of the Spouses Club. Will they become members and change the club to reflect all spouses in the area or will we simply have changed the name without making an impact?!?!? It remains to be seen. Even if they don't come on board and want to participate, I feel good having been part of doing the right thing. It needed to be done, it should have been done a long time ago - but I'm very glad that I was here to see it done and be a part of it.
Now I hold my breath and hope that the male spouses on base sign up in droves! I hope they recognize the significance and respond to the call. It's wonderful and frightening to be part of change, part of history - even in such a minor way! If only we could get the base paper to write about the change. Perhaps I'm the only one that sees this as historic!?!?!?
