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Photo by Andrea Hand Photography. Smiley's son on the shoulders of Maine Representative Mike Michaud.
My husband was on a year-long deployment overseas, and for each week that he was gone, we filled his empty seat at the dinner table with a new stranger. We hosted authors, musicians, school teachers, athletes, artists and even a zookeeper. We also hosted community and government leaders- - from both sides of the aisle.
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Historically, military marriages were a no-brainer. Young men in the service had dependable work and pay at a young age. They were heroic and masculine, and they were naturally bent toward protecting others.This fit well with America’s long held view of women: nurturing, dependent and dedicated to being someone’s supporting cast.
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The military is the last American institution to follow societal trends. If my husband was at sea when I went into labor, he would stay there. I fretted over this until the day I went to the hospital and was positive my husband would be with me. He left two weeks later and missed most of our son’s first year, but at least I didn’t need a telegram to tell him he had a son named Ford.
Read moreSyndicated newspaper columnist Sarah Smiley is the author of Dinner With the Smileys (Hyperion, 2013) and Got Here as Soon as I Could (DownEast, 2016). Described as an "Erma Bombeck" by Publishers Weekly, Sarah is best known for her sometimes funny, always endearing tales of raising three boys. She and her family live in Maine.