Lauren
Be a Friend
Long distance relationships are tough, so we try to find things that will help make life a bit easier as we journey through the separation. We understand that we chose to pursue a military partnership, but support from our family and friends is much appreciated. Not to mention it will probably result in helping us to stay in a much better mood.
What can our civilans friends do to support us? First off, I would suggest in not badmouthing the missions and jobs of our boyfriends. We know that everyone might not agree with everything that the military does, but this is their duty and they are working hard to accomplish a job. Staying positive is a key to our sanity so your help in this manner would be great! Also, please dont suggest that we are "wasting our time" waiting for them and that we should find a man here. Thats not what we want to hear and we dont want a guy here...we want our boyfriend!
What we do need is for family and friends to console and comfort us when we are down. Let us whine a bit to get it all off our chest, then take us out for a good time to get our minds off of it! This does not inlude doing things with all couples, obviously excluding us. I dont want to be around 5 other couples all night while I am still PMSing about not seeing my boyfriend in months. Girl time just pampering ourselves, playing games, shopping, eating out, watching movies, etc. is awesome! Oh yes, all the stupid lil fights that you want to complain to us about, DONT! We would love to have our men get on our nerves...that would mean that they were here with us.
As far as things that we can do to help our family and friends understand what we are going through...education. I guess just trying to teach them more about the Army and what our soldiers do will help them to have a better understanding of what we go through. I know some parents, silblings, and friends might have a tendency to cut down boyfriends if they feel that they are not doing their duty as a boyfriend. They will have to learn that soldiers will be often gone physically, and at times not even able to communicate. Please dont hold this against them, of course, unless there is a very good reason.
Last thing...if our soldiers call or get the chance to visit, PLEASE dont get mad if we drop everything to talk to them or be with them! It is a given that we WILL spend as much time as we can either talking or being with them physically. We miss em!
Lauren B.
posted by Audrey @ 2:18 PM
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