Not So SUBPAR #2 - Helpful Spouses
This one time...at Power School
So, this isn't about subs, you underway people, but about a spouse. We had just moved to SC to start finish our first PCS. Since my husband was ROTC we were lucky enough to have the military move our stuff. We were in on base housing , behind the gate, and could see the gate from our front door, easy walking distance. So, when my husband's first day of orientation was on the same day our stuff was supposed to show up, I told him to go ahead and take the car. I didn't realize there was a back gate.
So, my husband had left, he didn't have his cell phone on him, and I get a call from the movers, they're at the gate and need a pass. I walk to the gate and don't see a moving truck. I give them a call to let them know they're not at the right base... only to be told there is, in fact, a back gate.
Pure panic flooded me as I stood in front of my house looking around. I know no one. I have no car. I can't tell them to just come back later what the hell do I do? The street was empty, everyone was at work or school, except the one house with the white minivan. Like the creeper I am I glanced in the car window to see if they had kids car seats, it's 8 am, I didn't want to wake anyone if I could help it. I saw she had 2 rear facing car seats and knocked on the door. A woman in a fuzzy pink bathrobe with a toddler on her hip and another clinging to her leg opened the door.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but my movers are at the gate, and my husband has the car, and I have no idea where it is, and I don't know what I'm doing" I blurted out.
She smiled that small smile that I've seen on countless faces since. That one that spouses have, that little quiet it takes a village smile that tugs at the corner of your mouth in moments like these.
"Give me 2 minutes, I need to let their dad know I need to run out.”
Just like that she dropped everything to help someone who was still learning how to navigate the Navy. She helped me move in, took me under her wing as we moved in, and then out. Took me to my doctors appointments when I was pregnant and too sick to drive myself. People like her make the military community what it is.
She and the other spouses I have met over the past 8 years are the glue that holds the wardroom together. The quiet “we got you” that makes it possible to have a family in this crazy whirlwind. Maybe, one day, a new spouse who’s just moved in will knock on my door in the early morning, on the verge of tears, confused, scared, and lost. And I’ll answer the door, with the quiet smile, and make them feel like they’re not alone.
Want to share a story of someone who is Not So SUBPAR? Email it to thesubpargroup@gmail.com