Married to the Military — Postcards
Sep 08 2008
It started off as a simple homework assignment. Collect as many stamps as possible that then would be donated to charity, enabling the purchase of a wheelchair for a needed party. The winning second grade class would score an ice cream party. Not a bad deal all the way around.
Clearly it was time to pull out the scissors and my secret weapon in the sacred name of Ben & Jerry. In the attic, under an inch of dust, sat a box of old postcards certain to have a mother lode of stamps affixed to them.
Ice cream was a’coming for the seven-year-old set — or at least I thought so until I started sorting through the box. Before I knew it, I found myself walking down memory lanes that I nearly had forgotten existed.
There were old postcards showing:
- Toulon, France, where my brother’s ship docked once on a med cruise in the early ‘80s;
- a faded view of the front gate at Quantico, Va., in the ‘70s, where my Marine Corps family always seemed to end up at sooner or later;
- the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru, also in the 1970s, where my oldest brother was stationed early in his now-retired Marine Corp career;
- Kuwait, where my husband was stationed one Christmas and we opened presents over the telephone while the dog happily attacked the wrapping paper;
- a tank rolling down a street in Kosovo;
-a slot machine with some random player on some base in Okinawa, Japan, where my Dad pulled his last tour of duty in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s;
- a North Carolina beach and a promise of love to one of my other brothers’ many, many old girlfriends from over the years; and
- a skyline view of Frankfurt, Germany, in 1983 when I sent a note to my husband (then boyfriend) canceling our first date — compliments of a barracks bombing in Beirut and my brother’s safe arrival at 97th general hospital.
There was a postcard from my mom to her mom, both now passed on to what I hope is a better place, and many of the hastily scribbled notes I sent to my mother when I first was married that were returned to me after her death.
I put the scissors down and vowed to buy as many books of stamps as necessary for my second grader’s class to win.
About the Author: Janet Farley is the author of The Military Spouse’s Complete Guide to Career Success (Impact Publications, 2008) and writes the career advice column JobTalk for the Stars and Stripes newspapers.
