Military Spouse Appreciation Day, celebrated on May 9, recognizes the strength and contributions of the significant others of military personnel. In honor of this annual celebration, Blue Yonder associate Jessica Petersen shares her story and how she has learned to thrive as a military spouse.
“Adapt and overcome,” people often say. This phrase plays a large role in our day-to-day life as a military family. My husband is currently serving as an Infantry Officer in the Marine Corps, and truly embodies “honor, courage and commitment” both within and outside of the Corps. Having a front-row seat to this, I have learned a great deal about exemplifying those virtues and applying them to our home life.
Being a military spouse has highlighted many areas of our life where we so desperately crave control, security, and the ability to make plans and stick to them. Yet, we often find ourselves taking a deep breath, adjusting our plans, and trying our hardest to remain strong through the small and big changes that the military throws at us.
I married my Marine almost two years ago, just a few weeks before I started at Blue Yonder as a Specialist on the Marketing team. A month after our wedding, he deployed to Japan, and, ironically, I found out I was pregnant with our now 1-year-old, Ellie, just a week before he left. Talk about adapt and overcome!
From deployment and field trainings away to unpredictable schedules and new assignments every few years, I have gained new insight into what honor, courage and commitment truly means. I don’t have to be a Marine to apply this to my marriage and motherhood, my work, relationships, and my daily choices. Witnessing how my husband has such a grasp on personal discipline, strength and virtue has motivated me to step it up each day and “find a way to win,” as he says.
Being a military spouse is not for the faint of heart, but it brings with it a strong sense of community, new opportunities, the chance to step out of your comfort zone, a deep level of resilience, the discovery of newfound strength, and an overwhelming gratitude for our safety and protection here in the U.S. This experience has created an unwavering foundation in our family amidst the not-so-steady seasons of life.
A very wise and seasoned military spouse once told me that I could either be the military wife who thrives or the one who crumbles amidst the adversity of this lifestyle. I believe I speak for many military wives when I say that we take great pride in our spouses’ jobs and the sacrifices that come with them. However, we signed up for this life together, and we have a role in it too. Our sacrifices may not mirror theirs, but they matter nonetheless, contributing to their service for our country and giving us our own sense of pride. Now that’s what “thriving” means to me!
I encourage you to always thank a veteran, welcome the new military family that has moved into your neighborhood, check in on the spouse who had to stay behind during a deployment, and reflect on the sacrifices made for us to be the “home of the free because of the brave.”