This past week Nicole (WSM) and I were both able to speak to military widows from the Vietnam era. Now we did it in different ways (mine was on the phone and hers was at the podium), but both brought us to the realization that we were overlapping two generations with one common thing, sharing our stories of love, grief and survival.

The woman I spoke with has been on this journey of widowhood for 40 years (where as I’m only going on 2), yet for 30 minutes time and age were not a factor. We spoke about what we do in our free time, about how we were notified and other topics. Excitement was present in both of our voices, for in those moments we had come full circle. 40 years later she was able to share things with someone who understood that she and so many others had paved the way for our generation.

Of course I wanted to ask her if there was some secret to getting through this new life, some seeds of wisdom I could plant in my garden. She paused for a moment, and in the words she then spoke, I was reaffirmed to why I am still here.

“The one thing that has pulled me through is the love I have for him and the hope that one day we will be together forever.”

It was then that I realized that yes, we are the new generation of military widows and things have changed from past generations, but there is one constant that will always unite us, always bring us together as one in the end, and that is love