With Fresh Eyes

I was driving on post today in my usual rush-rush and turned down the street toward my house. All of a sudden, I was taken back to two years ago when we drove down that street for the first time, when the houses were all mysterious, and I didn’t know where we would live.

When the place we called “home” was Army lodging.

When the PX was foreign, and the gyms and commissary hadn’t even been visited.

Back when it all was new to our family.

I don’t know what it was that sparked it, but I started to notice things around me again. I looked at it like I looked at it when I had fresh eyes on the installation.

You see, I’ve driven down that road a hundred times or more since then, and sometimes, I drive down it and don’t even remember because it’s become so familiar. (Uh oh, you know what that means don’t you? It means it’s almost time to PCS.)

Sometimes we get so used to things. We find our comfort zones.

I love the feeling of knowing something. It’s so less anxious and controllable. But, this life isn’t all about comfort and stress reduction.

The military journey throws us (and our service members and children) for loops that we can’t dream up. There are ups, and there are downs.

There are hellos and goodbyes.

There are lines, and there is confusion.

There are tears, and there are joyous moments.

There is pain, and there is celebration.

Still, as I looked through fresh eyes, I realized how lucky we were as military families to be given the “fresh-eye opportunity” (even though it is sometimes unwelcome and forced) so often.

I remember some of my greatest moments were those done with fresh eyes.

The first day I laid eyes on my husband.

The first time I met my baby girls.

The days where I met some of our best friends on this journey.

The day my soldier stood across the parade field after months of being away and our eyes met as they came running towards us, finally home.

Our new home being built and the excitement of watching it go up.

Moving from installation to installation, and the thrill of exploration in our new surroundings.

Visiting overseas for the first time, and flying Space A in a C-17 across the ocean to visit military friends.

None of those times, did I think fresh eyes seem so bad.

So today, I vow to look at this journey with new eyes—fresh ones. I know there will be days that I will need my corrective lenses. There will be challenges along this journey, but each challenge will be seen as an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to learn.

That’s what I see now.