Is your work up to standard?

I read this today on a friend’s profile. It was about military wives, but I have to say, it brought a tear to my eye because it reminded me of me!

The good Lord was creating a model for military wives and was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said, "Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What's wrong with the standard model?" The Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, possess the qualities of both father and mother, be a perfect hostess to four or forty with an hour's notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she is pregnant and has the flu, and she must be willing to move to a new location ten times in seventeen years. And oh, yes, she must have six pairs of hands." The angel shook her head. "Six pairs of hands? No way." The Lord continued, "Don't worry, we will make other military wives to help her. And we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husband's achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say, 'I understand' when she doesn't, and say, 'I love you', regardless." "Lord", said the angel, touching his arm gently, "Go to bed and get some rest. You can finish this tomorrow." "I can't stop now," said the Lord. "I am so close to creating something unique. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can put up six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave goodbye to her husband from a pier, a runway or depot, and understand why it's important that he leave." The angel circled the model of the military wife, looked at it closely and sighed, "It looks fine, but it's too soft." "She might look soft," replied the Lord, "but she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure." Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord's creation. "There's a leak", she announced. "Something is wrong with the construction. I am not surprised that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this model." The Lord appeared offended at the angel's lack of confidence. "What you see is not a leak," he said. "It's a tear." "A tear? What is it there for?" asked the angel. The Lord replied, "It's sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride and a dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear." "You are a genuis!" exclaimed the angel. The Lord looked puzzled and replied, "I didn't put it there."



Peter has been working for this company now for a while, and we are really starting to get the hang of our new life. I’m able to better schedule my days when he is away which in turn is good for the kids and helpful to me. I’m productive, even if I am somewhat lonely—I definitely miss having my honey around!
I can’t help but compare this life to the military life I somewhat yearn to have in the sense that I’m here, hubby’s otherwise deployed, his work leads him all over the place, I almost never know where he is or when he will have to go until he is able to contact me, and even then, we can only talk for brief periods of time.
His work is dangerous. Crazy dangerous. Five or six days a week he is hanging from buckets over bridges and mountains, crouched on a working runway of an airport, or chest deep in a ditch that could give way any moment.
People are dying and getting injured around him.
The kids want to know every day where daddy is, and when he’s coming home. They miss him. I miss him.
It differs from the military life for a couple reasons. First, while the PAY is the same, the BENEFITS are nonexistent. Military families get paid very little too, but they have housing, food, bills, and assistance in all aspects of their life—from health insurance to counseling, from tax breaks to school. We get no benefits from this job, and in fact, every day he does it is a day we risk getting really screwed by medical bills should he ever (God forbid!) get injured on the job.
Second, there is none of the comeraderie military families enjoy. On my end, there are no other wives around who are living the same time of life. While my military wife friends definitely GET the whole “he’s gone, where is he, he’s home, yay” stuff (missing baby’s first steps, and words, and things like that) they are still very clustered, for the most part, in their military world. Their husbands work TOGETHER and they all know each other, whereas most of the guys Peter works with aren’t married and I don’t know what any of their home lives are like. I cannot call his co-worker’s wife and see if she’s had any news, or if they know what to do about X, Y, or Z company event that we’re supposed to partake in.
On his end, there is no comeraderie. The guys he works with are essentially what I would consider the scum of the earth--- most of them spend every waking moment they aren’t working at strip clubs and getting hookers, and drinking themselves into oblivion. Which, I’ll admit, is not really that different from lots of Joes I know (ahem!) but at least in the military he would ideally (and I know this isn’t always the case) have this BOND with the guys, no matter what, of brotherhood--- like they would all be on the same team. The guys Peter works with LIVE and WORK together just like soldiers, but instead of making it easier by developing bonds and getting to know each other, they make it harder by indulging nasty attitudes and bad habits that basically keep them irritated at each other and unbearable.
In the military, part of the comeraderie is that you just can’t “get out.”
And in this economy and in a city like this one, we feel just the same: it took us over a YEAR to find a decent job and it wasn’t even decent—we sure as heck arent’ going to turn around and abandon what we’ve got.
I always wanted my man to go back into the Army and so far, that just hasn’t happened, but I can’t help but notice that God has given me a life right now that’s incredibly similar—a life where it takes a GREAT amount of grace to get through each day…. I have to be as tough as nails most days and yet still know how to be the best helpmeet I can be for my man.

I’m not saying all this because I’m having a little pity party, but rather because I’m just so proud of my husband for manning up and doing the right thing… for realizing that he has to just keep on truckin’ even though the circumstances are dire, because we—his family-- are counting on him.

Around here, not a day goes by that I don’t hear someone praise and extol the military man: it’s on billboards, in our churches, and in our storefronts. I see signs saying thank you on the highway and in my neighbor’s yard, people wear it on their shirts and people plaster it on their cars: They are proud of their military husbands!

And I guess what I’m saying is that today, I want to thank the average working man too. I’m thankful that I have the kind of husband who does what a soldier does and who selflessly gives himself even though no one but ME (not even his boss!) will ever tell him how thankful I am.
To the outside world, his life does not reflect the honor and glory and pride that beams from every soldier’s well polished uniform, but I know what his life is like--- and I see that he LIVES by those values we memorized so long ago in basic training: Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.
When I was IN the army, I rarely saw a day where all those values were actually represented by the people around me. I’m thankful that I have a husband who reflects them in his personal life!

So today, I’m saluting the hard working man: be he soldier, plumber, or electrician…. You guys are amazing……..thank you from the bottom of my heart.