As a Military Spouse...

What does freedom mean to you?

Wives of the Armed Forces posed this question to their military spouse community:

As a military spouse, what does freedom mean to you?

It’s a heavy question, with an endless amount of possible answers. My life is not what I imagined it would be when I was a little girl, and that’s due to the sacrifice required to preserve our freedom. The sacrifice that our military family, and millions of other military families, live out each and every day. We live it out on days that are full of patriotism, like today on the Fourth of July, and on typical, boring days like random Tuesdays in March.

Freedom means so much more to me than I could ever put into words, but I tried. Wives of the Armed Forces made an incredible Instagram reel featuring portions of what I wrote below.

For my fellow military spouses, I hope these words resonate with you and remind you that we’re all in this together. For everyone else, I hope this gives you a glimpse into military life, and what freedom means to me as a military wife.

As a military spouse, what does freedom mean to you?

It means nights alone when my husband is gone on a deployment or mission.

It means an empty place at the table when he works unexpectedly late. 

It means canceled plans. 

It means celebrating holidays and birthdays, alone. 

It means watching him walk away, deployment gear on his back, not knowing if it's the last time I'll see him. 

It means gut-wrenching sobs as I turn to leave after watching him board the plane with a final wave.

It means wiping my tears and holding my head high as I brace to face the next months alone.

It means poor-quality video calls when he's deployed.

It means he might not be able to call, text, or email at all.

It means I sleep in an empty bed. 

It means I wipe our daughter's tears when she asks for dada, but he can't be there. 

It means I dig deep to find a strength I didn't know I had. 

It means I throw myself into our squadron's spouses group so I can surround myself with women who understand. 

It means becoming teary when the national anthem plays. 

It means my heart swells with pride when I hear our planes fly overhead. 

It means red, white, and blue when we get word he's finally coming home. 

It means the sweetest of kisses at deployment homecoming. 

It means the general loathing of mustache March. 

It means a level of sacrifice that most will never endure.

It means seeing the big picture within daily service. 

It means to put others before self. 

It means knowing someone’s call sign before you know their real name. 

It means moving every few years to places I never would have imagined. 

It means broken furniture that doesn’t fit in our base house.

It means changing jobs. 

It means raising my kids without family nearby. 

It means having the opportunity for friends to turn into family. 

It means whiskey, tango, foxtrot. 

It means speaking in acronyms. 

It means care packages to undisclosed locations.

It means being careful with what you share on social media.

It means piano burns and toasts to heroes gone too soon.

It means having faith in a bigger plan, that He'll use each sacrifice for good. 

It means daily sacrifice so others don't have to. 

It means our American way of life is preserved. 

As a military spouse, freedom means love, heartache, loneliness, gratefulness, pride, and a sacrifice of self and family. 

As a military spouse, freedom is worth it—despite every challenge and trial, it's worth it. Because I don't want to know what America would be without it.

God bless our military. God bless our military families. God bless America.