Facing Forward
After months of intensive brain healing and rehab, life was beginning to find normalcy. Independence was coming quickly. Lisa had a feeling a marriage proposal was on the horizon (ok, well, she accidently read an email from his mother about a ring), but wanted Jake to ask when the moment was right for him.
They went home for Christmas. Jake quietly proposed to Lisa on the couch in his parent’s living room during. It was just the two of them, no fan fare, no big production. After everything they had experienced together, this quiet moment belonged to them.
They married a year and a half later in the chapel at West Point. “It was a perfect day. The sun was shining, everyone was happy, Jake walked with me,” Lisa remembered.
“I was actually a few minutes late to my wedding and someone had asked how I could be so calm.” She told them, “After everything we’ve been through, having a wedding is not stressful.”
Lisa was a military spouse for exactly two and a half months. Jake decided not accept the cross training option from the Army. Instead, he decided to try his hand in the private sector. Luckily for Lisa and Jake, there are people taking care of today’s wounded warriors. A group called the Sentinels of Freedom helped Jake land an interview with Verizon Corporate in Dallas, TX. And just like the overachiever that he is, Jake got the job.
When asked what she loves most about her husband, she replied, with a crack in her voice, “He knows who he is, this experience hasn’t changed him at all. He’s still Jake.” Lisa also believes living as a military family and experiencing trauma forges your life together. “You’re stronger because of the injury, not in spite of it.”
And when asked how she defines her strength, she answered without pause, “I come from a long line of strong women. I can’t imagine my life any other way.”
Lisa and Jake are expanding their family, Lisa is pregnant and due this September. If it’s a girl, we have no doubt that the line of strong women in her family will continue forward.
