This week, my time has been spent at Navy Ombudsman training. After over a decade married to the Navy, I decided being an Ombudsman (not by myself, of course, but with one other lovely lady!) is something I would like to do before my husband retires. While at this course, I have had the honor of meeting some fantastic women, who like me are "diggits" and love the Navy and their sailors with gusto!
It is families like these who inspired me to become part of the Operation: Love ReUnited organization (from here on referred to as OpLove). OpLove offers military families with a deploying or deployed service member free custom photography sessions. Each family is allowed 2 per deployment, and many families choose to have a pre-deployment and a homecoming session. I am a firm believer that military families have a tough job, one of the toughest around.
Being a Navy wife in a blended family with between 2 and 4 children at home, I can tell you some of the things a deployment means to me. When I hear deployment is imminent, I make a mental list of the ball practices, choir concerts, doctors appointments, teacher conferences, sleepovers, community service events, and birthdays I would then have to do as a single parent. I then make a separate mental list with all those same things on it and then some of the things my husband will miss while he is away. Even something as trivial as reading a bedtime story takes on so much more meaning when you either a) do it every night for 3-6 months as a spouse or b) CAN'T do it any night for 3-6 months because you are giving your time to your country.
As I sit here typing, I have tissue in hand. Yes I'm crying. I'm crying because I remember deployments and how they stressed my family AND made it stronger. I'm crying because my children are amazing for having dealt with it and come through it all as incredible people. I'm crying because I know how strong a couple has to be to hold together a military family. And I'm crying, because we probably won't have any more deployments in our Navy lives, and that causes mixed feelings for me.
So, for the military families out there, I donate my time and some photographs of your families during happy times. This is what I can do to show my support and appreciation for the sacrifice you make everyday. This is why I am an OpLove photographer.
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