I've Said It Before…..

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t know how they do it.

My daughter-in-law, Marla, had to report to the U.S.S Eisenhower Thursday night. The crew had to report Thursday by midnight and then they shipped out Friday morning.

I saw Marla Thursday evening before she had to report. She came by to see us and my grandson, Liam, before she left. She had a little tear in her eye as she hugged him and said, “He probably won’t remember me.” My daughter, Sarah, actually did ask around and other Navy mom’s said that she should show Liam a picture of Marla every day and that it works.

Marla and Doug don’t have any children yet. They want a family but Marla is on sea duty right now so she has to complete that obligation first. I can’t imagine what it must be like for parents to say goodbye for anywhere from six months to a year.

After they left us, Doug and Marla went out to dinner and then went home so that she could have her last luxurious shower. We take it for granted but I can only imagine six months of little water pressure, not always having hot water and, their biggest complaint, showering with shoes on. I remember Christmas shopping for Marla and buying shower shoes.

The bad news is Saturday was her birthday. The good news is, Doug told me that Saturday is always Wings and Pizza night and since they had only been at sea for two days the pizza wouldn’t be hard yet.

So they’re off! Evidently they have no idea where they are going and they’re not allowed to tell us when they get there. I’ve had discussions with my three children in the Navy and they really don’t get political. The feeling seems to be that it doesn’t matter who the President is, he or she is their commander and they just follow the orders. Yes they watch the news as the world’s hot spots can determine where they or their friends will go.

Do I worry about them when they are deployed? Of course I do! I don’t worry so much about battle because I do believe we have the strongest military in the world and an aircraft carrier is never alone. The have a carrier strike group that goes with them. I worry more about their everyday operations as both my son Doug and Marla have jobs that put them on the flight deck. Yes, plenty of fresh air but a lot of moving parts and jets and sometimes that’s during night ops.

I trust in their training, know that they have terrific friends who look after each other and I have my faith. Marla is one of many deployed Americans somewhere around the world. She’s spending the next few months with some 5,000 men and women. Yes, that many on one ship. Let’s keep them all in our thoughts and put all the politics aside for a bit and pray that God keeps them safe.