A blog from Army&You’s autumn edition by Emma Krause, @armywifemumme
An open letter to my husband, deployed throughout COVID-19 in a land far away!
Of course you are away. Birthdays, nit outbreaks, kitchen renovations, house moves, world pandemics – you seem to miss them all. How ironic that you actually left at the crack of dawn on Valentine’s Day! If I didn’t have a sense of humour, I might think that you’d done it on purpose.
I realise now that all my basic training as a military wife has led me to this lockdown. I’m completely au fait with my plans being pulled from under me. Our children are happy to accept a huge change of life plan and seem to take it in their stride. I have a pocket full of military clichés that should get us through.
Actually, this is not our first rodeo. This time though we don’t actually know when we’ll see you again and that’s very different.
I sent you your birthday parcel, it was a bit rubbish as all the shops were shut. We had to cobble a present together from things in the house. In between our attempts at home schooling we made you some cards. Once I got to the front of the long, two-metre distanced queue, the lady at the post office said your parcel was over the weight restriction for BFPO. I sobbed as she passed your parcel back to me to take apart. People didn’t know where to look! I don’t suppose anyone understood, how could they?
I know you wish you were here too. Not just for all the usual things you’re missing. Not just because the children have grown, not just because you left in the snow and now it’s summer. I know that you wish you were here to support us through such a vulnerable time. I know you wish you could have kissed the children when their school closed and told them that it’ll be fine. I know that you wanted to keep us safe. If you were here, our daily walk would be more of an adventure, maybe the children wouldn’t moan as much as I try to tear them away from their screens. We talk on the phone every day. Our teenager said we have to even if we’re tired, I hadn’t realised that he feels the responsibility to hold you up too.
For reasons we don’t understand you were meant to be there. I feel comforted that you are keeping other families safe and helping them through this time, they need you, and they are lucky to have you. We’re so proud of you and have clapped for you on Thursdays. You’ll come home eventually, and we’ll celebrate. We’ll have another lockdown, so you can join in with all the fun bits. Don’t worry, I’ve saved you lots of jobs!
Best blog
Emma wins a £35 voucher to spend at Gillian Jones Designs — gillianjonesdesigns.com — for our best blog. Artist Gillian, a former Royal Navy officer and military spouse, specialises in vibrant and contemporary military art and design. If you can’t quite find what you’re looking for, she’s also happy to create bespoke commissions. Follow @gillianjonesdesigns on Instagram and Facebook, and @GillAJones on Twitter.
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