The new Princess may have more in common with thousands of American women than is first evident.

After all the fuss and flurry of an exceptionally celebrated Royal Wedding…she returns to a small town to fulfill a serious calling, that of an Army wife. An Army Officer’s wife.  It means that her immediate community is made up of people who are serving their country by waiting and acting on behalf of two – but doing so alone.

I have heard from many wives of Service Members that they consider their entire family to be in the Service.  The service of the spouse who is not active military is tireless and rarely touted.  Each day, particularly  if the spouse who remains at home (sometimes it’s a man serving in the home while the woman of the house is deployed) has children to tend, the load is a 200% load.  For in staying at home they are doing their best to fulfill both roles.

One military family I know took a holiday this summer with a life size replica of their Service Man…they called him “flat daddy” and he traveled everywhere with them.  American service wives will perhaps understand a Princess who considers her first priority not all the “royal obligations” but making sure she first fulfills her role as the member of the household who stays behind, and endures the implications of waiting.

Technology makes it possible for us to peer into the Royal Couple’s lives and have a better understanding of what is ahead for Kate Middleton in her new role as an Army Wife.  Technology serves many other viable roles in the lives of the American “princesses” who serve their country by supporting the homefront world of the one who is deployed.  Thankfully technology eases the tension of waiting. It allows family members a view into life in a deployed location unlike any other time in military history.  This goes a long way toward reducing the anxiety of being a spouse or a family eager to have their soldier whole and home

When the news calls attention toward this one lovely Army wife living in a small town on the other side world…let it call our attention and appreciation to all the military spouses on our own soil who quietly serve our country by remaining at home, and waiting.

“The government is the strongest of which every man feels a part. Thomas Jefferson”

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.  Mother Teresa”

“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. George Washington”

“The time is always right to do what is right.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

“I leave you hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.  Abraham Lincoln”

“Pessimism never won any battle. Dwight Eisenhower”

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. Nelson Mandela”

“We stand for freedom.  That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others. John F. Kennedy”