Giving Back.

Last night was my husband's squadron's wives' Christmas party. Follow that? Just a big bunch o' ladies enjoying a night of chatting, some wine, some ornament stealing, and some talk about how much time our Marines would actually have "off" and our holiday plans. On the drive home, I tried to squelch the annoyance at how we have to spend our wedding anniversary at a military Christmas party next weekend. I thought about how happy I am that my husband doesn't have to sit duty on Christmas this year. How thankful I am that he is home, and not on a boat or in a desert. I thought about the single Marines here and how I'm not volunteering my time for their Christmas dinner. I'm spending Christmas with my husband. I started planning out the days he'll have off... full lazy mornings and days filled with no commitments. No places to be, no things we have to do. A lot of thinking about how this holiday is mine, mine, mine to spend with him, him, him.

I checked Facebook when I got home and saw a friend's post about how a triathlon coach is "paying it forward" this season. Jen Harrison is giving a full season of her coaching for free to one lucky triathlete. The first line of her blog opened with... giving back.

Giving back.

You know those words hit me. One of my biggest struggles as a military spouse is feeling like I need to hoard the days I have with my husband. Sure they're precious and sometimes a little rare, but focusing on the rarity, or grasping onto the days like slippery little pumpkin seeds, is not the focus of this season. I started thinking how maybe the time we'll have together at Christmas is a gift... a gift of time that can be used for giving outside of ourselves.

This season gets so crazy. Parties, gatherings, cards to get in the mail, presents to be chosen and wrapped, cookies to be made, meals to plan, party outfits to coordinate, family to see, travel tickets to purchase, la la la. It's easy to get wrapped up in the all the things we need to do, things we have to do, and not think about the things we can do.

We can all give.

Like anything with our sport, it's just a matter of mindset. And I'm very grateful mine got prodded to change last night.

xo-T