Waiting. Worry. War. These are three words that have become common place in the life of the modern military spouse. For over a decade, we have watched our loved ones leave the comforts of home for the harsh realities of the battlefield. We have waited to hear from them with great anticipation and we have spent countless hours, days… years, filled with worry for their safe return. This period of war has been unlike anything our great Nation has ever endured. As a community, we have leaned on one another. We have rallied around fellow spouses during tough times and cheered for them during moments of triumph. Without the support of our fellow military spouses, many of us would not survive this life.
I recently had the pleasure of reading a book about two military spouses, from a very different time in our Nation’s history, who developed a beautiful friendship and sisterhood. A relationship that transcended distance, age and circumstance… and morphed into the very backbone that kept each woman standing upright during the worry and waiting of World War II. “I’ll Be Seeing You” is a collection of letters, written between Rita and Glory… two very different women, supporting their husbands during the same war. Desperate to connect with someone who can grasp the gravity of what they go through in their daily lives, they pour themselves into the letters. One woman newly married, and the other with many years of wedded experience and a son who is also fighting the war… they are an unlikely pair of soul mates. But as the letters unfold they form a bond that perhaps we, as military spouses, understand better than anyone else can.
During World War II, women often developed recipes to accommodate the rationing that was a part of everyone’s life. Along with their letters, Glory and Rita share these recipes; connecting through a medium that is within each of their control, unlike the circumstances that brought them together in the first place. Along with recipes for ‘Mock Apple Pie’ and ‘Vegetable Scrapple’ they share their fears, hopes and dreams.
It is not often that I get the chance to sit down and immerse myself in a good book. I am so glad that I made the time for this one. This book spoke to me on so many levels. As a human being, it spoke to me about the strength of the human spirit. As a woman it spoke to me about the value of sisterhood. And as a military spouse it reminded me that despite the hardships of being married to someone serving our country during a time of war… there are some incredible blessings as well. Those blessings are in the form of the friendships we make out of a desperate need to connect with others who can truly understand what we are going through.
To read an excerpt from “I’ll Be Seeing You” please click here, and for more information on how you can purchase a copy visit one of the following retailers: Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Kobo, Apple, Indie Bound or BAM.
