The Bigger Picture

My home life the past few days has been crazy. And I know what you're thinking, "Lin, there was a weekend in there. You had to have had time to relax."

Au, contraire.

I would have had time to relax if my husband had the weekend off. Unfortunately, he didn't. He's been put on a project in the Air Power Park out here on base. Basically, APP is a display of a bunch of jets throughout the history of Naval Aviation. It's actually really cool, and I'm super proud that they asked MarvMan to be part of the team of those going to repaint the birds.

Lately, though, it's become a point of contention between us. The project was supposed to have been done before the September 11th air show. Now, it's looking as though they'll be out there well into October. But as the air show approaches, their hours are becoming longer and the crew is now beginning to work weekends. It's been leaving me stuck at home, and because of my current restrictions on driving, it's been driving me - and the girls - rather batty. I'd been getting snippy with MarvMan and in my selfishness completely forgot some of the underlying reasons he and the crew were out there on this project.

Yesterday, I received a bit of a reality check. There are larger reasons at work here, and I needed to recognize those. A few months back, we lost the Executive Officer (XO) of the base in a plane crash. The crash took not only Commander Hook's life, it also took the lives of his three daughters. Part of the crew's job in repainting the aircraft in the park was also to create and affix a memorial for our late Commander and his daughters.

They put it up yesterday.



It took MarvMan and James - the project supervisor - two hours to get this onto the F-18. The Warrant Officer in charge of the project and the Commanding Officer (CO) of the base came out to see the memorial. I don't think there was a dry eye on the project last evening as everyone took a moment to remember our lost XO and his daughters.

When MarvMan came home last night, he told me about the memorial and showed me that photo. I think it's beautiful. The overarching reminder that this memorial gave me is that there are larger purposes at work. Not only on the project, but also in our lives in general. The daily problems we have are small compared to the bigger picture. I can only pray for the grace to make it through each day with some remnant of sanity.

I still won't be pleased when MarvMan doesn't come home until well after 6 this evening and I know I'll still be dealing with the depression that comes with the loss of my independence throughout this whole health ordeal. But maybe today, at least, I can remember that there are others who are counting on my husband and who value his work on more levels than simply viewing him as another body to get things done at a faster pace.

It's a military marriage, and there are three entities involved: myself, MarvMan, and the Navy. Even though we're on shore duty, I still have to share him.