The challenge of every military wife: the personal growth of meeting new people and having new experiences was getting old fast.
What do you mean we have to be across the country next week? How do you get kids out of sports, school, and the arms of their best friends again?
Luckily we still have some of the cardboard boxes from the last move. We never got to unpack them, so that’s even better. At least the content is written on the outside of the box. Most of the boxes ended up with Kitchen Misc labels. o Bathroom stuff o “I hate this shit, I don’t want to move, signed by the hired servant who wanted to go to the mall today”
One would think that after 12 moves in 15 years, a smart family would start to simplify their possessions. A smart family would get rid of old yearbooks, unused cookbooks, scruffy stuffed animals, and pans without lids. A smart family would simply find the nail on the walls and hang their pictures on them, regardless of the location. By the time we found the separate boxes containing the hammer, level, hooks, and pictures, it was almost time to move on again.
No, we weren’t the smartest family in the army, but we were one of the most grateful. We were filled with gratitude for each other, the ability to see the country and make new friends, and grateful for the experiences along the way.
One pivotal experience in particular was moving into military housing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California. While Dwain and I were unloading boxes, the kids ran out to the backyard to explore. They came running back to tell us about the strange “thistles” everywhere.
Always the teacher, he called everyone to talk about the artichokes. I explained to him how delicious they were and that we would savor them at a future meal. I also used the teaching moment to say that the people who had lived here before had planted the artichokes, knowing that they might never see the fruits of their labor. Since artichokes take two years to produce, they left us a gift.
We talked about how we should follow his example and plant seeds wherever we go. We would plant vegetable seeds, flower seeds, but most of all we would plant the seeds of goodness. We may never see the fruits of our labor like the family before us, but we would anyway.
As we sat on cardboard boxes and stared at the blank walls, we feasted on artichokes and butter and praised those who had given us this gift.
Our daughter Deb commented that the artichoke was like some of the families I work with as a parent educator; the outer edges are hard, closed, and have prickly spots that can hurt if you get too close. It is only through time, warmth and patience that we can find that the outer leaves come off more easily and we arrive at the true treasure: the heart.
The artichoke is now my logo and stands as a symbol of finding the heart of the story in the journey of life. Our journey with cardboard boxes, blank walls, and a military life may be a thing of the past, but the life lessons and friends forever will remain in our hearts.