For the Record...

I received a package today. As my pen pals from my beloved CA and IL know, I love receiving mail. Today’s package was different. It was a package from the Airman and Family Readiness Center. In it, were coupons and pamphlets made available to me while my spouse is deployed. 

I must say I was surprised that I received this package. My friend had received the same package and I didn’t wonder if I would get one. I knew he got one because his wife knew the Key Spouse (the spouse that arranges meetings and outreach for other spouses) for her squadron. Last time my husband was deployed, my friend Keefe, was the only person that kept in contact with me to ask me how I was doing while Oscar was away and I did the same for him (our spouses are strangely always away at the same time). This is mostly because I had been here for such a short amount time and didn’t really know anyone. This time around I know a few more people. Thankfully a handful of them have reached out to me at some point or another in this past month. Last time I never got a call from Hubs’ shop and I haven’t gotten a call this time. I must say that this package does help my morale. Although I know these are mass sent packages, it is a pleasant surprise to get something like this in the mail. I hear that there is a lot more help from our spouses’ squadrons stateside when our spouses are deployed and I hear that it is really different here. I could get into all the reasons why and how things are different here but that would take ages. I am gratefully to have received something in the mail that helps. I can now get a discount to get my oil changed, coupons for our shopping center and other services on base and lists of other resources to help cope with the absence of our loved ones. It’s a few small things but it’s the thought that counts. Getting the package in the mail helped lift my spirits. It helps make hubs’ deployment a little easier to bare.