Often the military takes you away from your immediate family and friends whom you’ve known all of your life. Some advice I always give to new milspouses is to build their community. Meaning find people who genuinely have your back. I have feel like I married into two families my husband’s biological family and the military family.
Our first base where we were stationed was Hickam AFB in Hawaii. Hawaii is a beautiful place, but can be a lonely place if the only person you know is the one you’re married to (especially if he’s a loadmaster). I was blessed to make some awesome friends while we were at Hickam who became family. In fact one of our friend’s family welcomed us with open arms and adopted us. 
When we PCSed to our current base we were closer to family, but they are still hours away. I had to start over since I knew absolutely no one in town or on base. After being here for four years I have made some great friends both military and non-military affiliated. I felt like I’d built a nice community for myself, however, when we gained an angel (I now hate the term loss) I realized that my community was even bigger than I’d thought. Friends and strangers alike all came to our aid in our time of need.
In a time when I was questioning the humanity of others given the goings on centered around this past presidential election and the seemingly widespread disregard for the life of others, God showed me that there are some wonderful people in this world. In fact, I feel that I experienced God’s love through the acts of these various individuals and organizations.
I’m so thankful for all of these people who went above and beyond to be there for my family and I. I don’t know where I would be without the support of my family, military family, friends and people who didn’t even know me. I have been inspired to spread more love. I have been given so much and I feel the need to pass it on. In the midst of this darkness God has shone a light on some many things that I could not see before and I’m just so incredibly thankful.
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