This is a sponsored blog post for 1 Natural Way written by me. All opinions are my own.
It was December 2014. I was 35-weeks pregnant and we had just PCS’d (moved) to Tucson, Arizona. We were at our former base in New Mexico for only three months. We moved so quickly because that growing baby inside of me had Down syndrome and a heart defect. It was, in more ways than one, the most difficult time of my life.
Not only were we moving farther away from our east coast families and starting a new journey as a special needs parents, but we didn’t know a single person in this new town. I knew we needed a village, but it seemed impossible. Everything seemed impossible.
I was scared, depleted, and struggled to find hope.
But a few days after moving in, another military dentist and his wife invited my husband and me to dinner. They brought a baby gift and listened to us talk about how our world turned upside down in a matter of weeks. The wife invited me to a playgroup and although I had many logistical things to take care of, like doctor appointments and unpacking, I went.
It was at that playgroup where I met more military wives. I didn’t know it then, but some of them would become lifelong friends.
These women barely knew me when I was not only dealing with the already challenging transition from one to two children, on top adding several doctor and therapy appointments a week and eventually an open-heart surgery. It was new to me, unknown to them, but they acted like my family when my family lived across the country.
Because here’s the thing about military spouses—they hold down the home front. And that home front isn’t just what goes on inside the walls of their houses. They are dedicated to their communities. They invite their communities to become part of their families. And like family, they hold each other together when the hardships of military life, or just life, weighs another member down.
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Not only are they the best supporters, they are resourceful. Don’t know who to call to set up specialty care? They’ll find out for you. Need the lowdown on preschools? They’ll research with you. About to buy something you can get for free? They’ll save you. They know things like 1 Natural Way being a TriCare breast pump provider which offers the popular Medela, Spectra and Kiinde breast pump brands, plus accessories and postpartum care supplies at no out of pocket expense to you. Bonus— they know this process will only take you about 5 minutes.
From practical things, like watching my daughter so she didn’t have to watch her brother’s blood draws, to matters of the heart, these women were there. Although they may not have ever walked my road of hardships, they intimately know what it feels like being in a journey that’s marked by unknowns.
Military spouses guard the house when their spouse is deployed or on constant TDY’s, they research homes, schools and best ways to break the news to the kids when it’s time to move bases. They are resilient, independent and marked by service to their families-the one they live with and the ones they create along the way.
That first year was difficult. No one should have to enter the disability world and go through an open-heart surgery for their child the way I did. But I got through. My military spouse friends held my hand through these tough transitions and eventually helped me see I too had the strength to withstand the battles.
This is a sponsored blog post for 1 Natural Way written by me. All opinions are my own.
