My Side of the Story
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by Lisa Miller
I have struggled with this blog for a couple of weeks, but I woke up this morning with a renewed will to "get 'er done!” Okay, so I am a little afraid of Vickie...
Sitting at my kitchen table, I decided to scrap all the woe-is-me lines I had written - yes I still use pen and paper - and focus instead on my incredible good fortune.
My original working titles ranged from, "If 2.6 Million Mothers Watched Their Kids Go To War In The Last Decade, Why Did I Feel So Alone?" to the more succinct, "Being An Army Mom Sucked.” Don't get me wrong, both of those statements are true. But I will take my cue from millions of veterans, my son included, and keep my war stories to myself for now. So let's talk about some good things...
I expected, even embraced, that my life would change when my three kids left home. All their lives I was the costume maker, Cub Scout leader, field trip driver, “professional volunteer"... But now I would travel, read more, learn to knit, do more for ME! Then, quite by happenstance , I met Vickie Durfee....(insert sound of screeching brakes here*) and my life took a new direction as Full Circle Home was born.
Well, I HAVE NOT visited all 50 states, but I HAVE sent gifts to Moms and wives in each one. I HAVE read volumes.... thousands of emails, love notes and thank-yous from troops and their loved ones. I still CAN'T knit, but I CAN wrap hundreds of beautiful packages at breakneck speed. I DON'T have a lot of time for manicures, but I DID have a girl-chat with Michele Obama and Jill Biden about the merits of gel polish! (And other headier topics!) I realized that doing more for ME meant doing more for OTHERS, that to survive those deployments when I was PARALYZED by fear, I needed to MOVE.
And in the process, I found all these good things I didn't know I was looking for - strength, compassion, creativity, humor, determination, more humor! I found them in myself and in my dear friend Vickie and the many friends we've met along the way. Laverne and Shirley, Thelma and Louise, Wilma and Betty, Lucy and whatshername... They've got nothin' on us...
Stay tuned.
