yet at times we see her
mowing the lawn,
balancing the checkbook
or fixing a leaky faucet,
and this
makes her feel like the man of the house.
She usually comes in different sizes;
tall, small,
plump or pregnant.
During the early years of her marriage
, it is often hard to determine
which is the normal one.
She measures
time in terms of duty stations
as other
women use years.
At times she was alone,
her
husband at sea,
when
her child was born
or when
movers came.
She
wonders if there is a secret pact
between
her husband and the service,
providing
for a man to be on duty
or temporary
duty
at such
times as these.
She draws her inner strength
from
many sources.
Some
are country girls,
some
city girls
and
some even from other countries.
She
may be a nurse,
a teacher
or a
secretary
but
the bond she shares with everyone else
is that
she's
a Coast Guard Wife.
When
transfer time rolls around,
she
must smile and
put
on an Academy Award winning performance
to convince
her children that they'll love the new place.
At the
same time,
she
wonders
whether
he can handle this new assignment.
And
all the time
she
knows that no one really wants to leave.
In her
heart,
she
silently wonders if it is worth the sacrifice,
but
she goes.
Because
she is a Coast Guard Wife.
An ideal
wife has
the
patience of an angel,
the
flexibility of putty,
the
wisdom of a scholar
and
the stamina of a horse.
If she
dislikes money, it helps.
She carries
her memories in a shoe box
full
of old photographs
which
she still intends to mount someday.
Some
might say she's a bigamist,
sharing
her husband
with
his mistress called DUTY.
When
duty calls,
she
becomes the #2 wife.
Until
she accepts this fact,
her
life can be miserable.
She is
above all,
a woman
who married a serviceman
who
offered her the permanency of a gypsy,
the
miseries of loneliness,
the
frustrations of conformity
and
the security of love.
Sitting
among the packing boxes
with
squabbling children nearby,
she
is sometimes willing to chuck it all.
And
then she remembers just how much
we depend
on her.
How
much we rely upon her
so we
may indulge ourselves in our careers.
Then
she hears the firm steps
and
the cheerful voice of the lug
who
gave her all this
and
she knows she made the right choice.
And
she is happy to be
a Coast
Guard Wife.
~ Author
Unknown
