Featured in the RNE Magazine, 2023 Volume 3
By Jennifer White
After 24 years of active duty service in the Air Force, my husband retired recently. Of course, as any chapter in your book closes, you spend a lot of time in active introspection – and I’m no exception!
There have been some amazing memories and places we have lived. We spent four glorious years in Germany, and three in England. We together moved 14 times, lived in 6 different states and 3 countries. He deployed 3 times (and we know we’re lucky he *only* deployed 3 times!) and were apart for countless TDY’s and trainings.
I’m pretty certain we have spent our wedding anniversary apart more times than together, as well as countless holidays, birthdays and other days of celebration.
We’ve learned that celebrating on a specific day is never the most important thing – the act of the celebration and being thankful for those you love is.
There have been some hard times. Dealing with loss of loved ones helplessly from afar is most notable. Another incredibly difficult issue: facing infertility as an active military family.
Our story ends up happy in the end and we know we are lucky and ever so grateful.
We now have our incredible kiddo here with us. They are 17, trying to figure out college and their future, and they are the light of our life.
But it was a truly difficult and dark road we traveled as we waited for them to join us.
A seven year road, in fact.