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Caring For Families is an Air Force Way of Life
Military life has a heart, a voice, and brains galore! Family presence, once a background nuance has been raised to the top level of prominence. Communication is the lifeline in this forceful body: in shape, in motion and in communion with all levels, ranks and backgrounds. Every branch of service has it’s unique concept for hosting this life line: the Navy has the Ombudsmen and the Army has the FRSA. The Air Force has their own new program: Key Spouses.Programs come together, and on paper are workable. Then… when real people enter and dedication, love of country, zeal for esprit de corps, Key Spouses zoom… Off the Key Spouses go…
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Sermon Notes: My Rock
As the young and vibrant woman of God led us into a time of worship this morning she asked, “Who is God to you?” He can be so many things at so many times but what resonated in my head was “He’s my Rock.” Because as beautiful as a sandy beach is, I can’t ground myself on thousands of pieces of shifty sand, thousands of things pulling and pushing me this way and that. However, that Rock; That Rock keeps me grounded. It keeps me grounded in the midst of turmoil: relationship troubles, financial problems, teenage angst, childhood rebellion, infant tantrums, tumultuous emotions. It doesn’t matter what is happening around me when I stand solidly on…
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A Must Read for a Better Understanding of PTSD “Achilles in Vietnam” by Dr Jonathan Shay
Volunteers of America Michigan Veteran Homeless ShelterDuring a recent visit to a veterans’ homeless shelter in Lansing, MI, Patrick Patterson, the Volunteers of America Michigan Vice President for Operations gave me two books to read. The gift was a great way for me to find meaning as to how our veterans end up on the street. As I read, Jonathan Shay’s “Achilles in Vietnam, Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character” the memories of the Vietnam era came flowing back to me… not as a combat veteran of that era but as an American who could not understand what was happening to my country, its soldiers and my friends. While…
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Angst and Insecurities
There is a bit of teenage-angst in my house right now. *J*, 16 years old, driver’s license, girlfriend, soccer, nearly-straight A’s, lots of friends from school, three parents that LOVE him, (I’m step-mom),want to give him his space and yet recognize that sometimes too much space isn’t good either. He’s not quite sure what to do with the raging hormones, the insecurities, the pull between friends, two families, and self. Mom is a single-mom. It is just Mom and *J* in that household. *J* is treated a little bit older, I suspect; perhaps more of a confidante. Dad is a dad of three sons and soon to be four, plus his lovely bride…
