Guest Blogger: Salyssa Camacho
My contribution to the Military Family Month observance comes with equal measures of pride and grit, along with a chaser of relief. My husband just completed the first deployment of his six-year Navy career. It lasted seven months and it took him to Japan, Guam and Singapore. As any military spouse can appreciate, the deployment took me to new adventures, too.
My husband, Jeremiah, and I are high school sweethearts born and raised in Oklahoma. My husband came from a military family, but I did not. We have a six year-old daughter and four year-old son and live in base housing outside Naval Base San Diego. I love my husband for more reasons than I can count. But after his deployment caused me to appreciate the many little things he did around the house that went unnoticed, I know I love him more. He covers so much – from managing our family’s finances to putting giggles into our children’s lives.
My daughter is without a doubt a Daddy’s Girl. She is normally a motivated student, but struggled a bit during his deployment. I’m grateful to the military families who surround us and who know the ropes and who led me to resources on base, especially the work of the resiliency team. It has a program to train civilian teachers to identify and support military children who are dealing with the stresses of a parent’s deployment. The program works with children ages three and above and focuses on four core skills: communication, problem solving, regulating emotion and setting goals. My daughter was one of the only military children in her school and I know the program will be a lifeline to the many military children who come after her.
The happy news for our whole family is that my husband is back. My daughter is her vibrant self again and I look forward to my husband immersing himself in all of the roles I used to take for granted, but never will again. We thank him for his service to the country and most definitely to our little family in San Diego.
