This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Finest Hours. All opinions are 100% mine.
The email read, “There are no words to describe how much I need you right now.” In an instant, I knew everything was about to change for me as a military spouse. As I sat safely at the comfort of my kitchen table in coastal North Carolina, I looked out my patio door to blue skies, green grass and all things ordinary. Yet, half-way around the world I knew my boyfriend—a deployed service member—just experienced his most challenging day overseas to-date.
I felt the pit in my stomach grind three turns deeper. To most, it was an ordinary day. To me, it was a turning point. I either needed to lean into the whirlwind of military life, despite it’s challenges, or I needed to walk away.
I leaned into life as a military spouse.
In the final weeks of his treacherous Afghanistan deployment, I soon learned that my service member experienced the most grueling and challenging 7 months overseas of his life. While I maintained little knowledge about the details of his deployment missions and experiences until many months later, I did know one thing: we were in it for the long haul.
That was four years ago.
This week, my husband and I had the privilege of watching Disney’s The Finest Hours at home. It’s based on an incredible true story of one of the most heroic U.S. Coast Guard rescue missions in history. Watching the thrilling action, impossible stakes and relationship between Bernie and Miriam Webber unfold, I couldn’t help but reflect on the days and months that changed our lives four years ago. It was perhaps our own finest hours as a military couple. Back then, my husband overcame countless dangerous missions in Afghanistan and I remained on the home front waiting, hoping, and praying. As a military spouse, you have your own set of finest hours when you rose to the occasion to help your family overcome something that seemed insurmountable. At one point during the movie, Miriam repeatedly asks for for the U.S. Coast Guard to “please just call them back.” With each passing plea, the desperation in her voice intensified and eerily resonated with me.
It is a familiar moment among all military spouses, when you want your service member to return home safely. To abort the mission. To come back to you. These are your finest hours as a military spouse when you hold it together despite wanting to fall apart. Maybe it was standing by your service member during an especially difficult time or maybe it was doing everything you could to keep your relationship strong during a deployment or maybe it was helping your service member adjust to a new normal after coming home. Whatever the challenge, you conquered it and held your family together like two spools of thread tied together in a double knot.
Your service member has his own set of finest hours too. A mission, training or deployment where he went above and beyond. Where his service made a difference in the lives of others. Where you believed in everything he did and wouldn’t change it for the world.
“The Finest Hours” is for military spouses.
This action-packed movie is one all spouses should watch with their service members. To help you both remember why you do what you do. To know that it all makes a difference not matter how big or how small. To remember your own finest hours in military life.
The digital release of The Finest Hours on Blu-ray™, Digital HD, and Disney Movies is available anywhere starting May 24. It also includes a Bonus Documentary “Against All Odds: The Bernie Webber Story,” where you’ll visit the quaint and close-knit town of Chatham, and experience the events surrounding the most heroic Coast Guard rescue ever through the eyes of the people who witnessed them. After my husband and I finished The Finest Hours movie, we both looked at each other with a faint smile and knew one thing: no matter what the future holds, we’re in this together.
Want more on military life?
- The Ultimate Summer Reading List for Military Spouses
- I’m Terrible at Being a Military Spouse
- The Biggest Mistake a Military Spouse Can Make
- 43 Awesome Tips for the New Military Wife
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