When her Marine deployed, my friend Lacey enrolled her toddler in a deployment program offered at MCAS Miramar. Lacey said that one of the best things that they had learned at the program was: "OK to be sad. OK to be mad. NOT OK to be bad."
The motto was supposed to be used to help the youngest military kids know how to cope with all the feelings that come with deployment. Which is smart. But it struck me that I had plenty in common with Lacey's little girl. These words could also be taken as a military wife quote that applies to our own deployments, too.
I mean, on the surface of my brain, I know that it is OK to be sad and OK to be mad about deployment. But deep down I am sure that I think I ought to be able to handle the whole thing without a blip on my emotional radar. That expectation is exactly what makes me "be bad" in terms of skipping any physical exercise and burying my feelings in a plate of four cheese risotto. So this Military Wife Quote is up on my fridge this week: OK to be sad. OK to be mad. NOT OK to be bad. And that includes the cheesecake.
