文章基本信息

标题：Soothing Words
作者：Cotton, Erika N
期刊名称：National Guard
印刷版ISSN：0163-3945
出版年度：2005
卷号：Jun 2005
出版社：National Guard Association of the United States

Soothing Words

Cotton, Erika N

THE BOOKSHELF Soothing Words Chicken Soup For the Military Wife's Soul By Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Charles Preston and Cindy Pederson Health Communications, Inc. 307 pages

The most noticeable thing about Chicken Soup for the Military Wife's Soul is its point of view. It changes with wars, with time, by branch, time served and age.

Each segment of the book covers a different aspect of military life, from celebrating holidays oceans apart to going beyond the call of duty to what it's like to sit by the phone for months waiting on a loved one to call.

Young and old military wives, from all over the world, representing each branch of the military, including the National Guard and Reserves, Navy and Marines, write about their travels and the friends they've met along the way.

They discuss raising military brats, being pregnant during deployment, losing a loved one and the pride they have in their husbands' duty.

The inspirational short stories, memoirs, poems and cartoons personify what it means to be a part of a military family so well that anyone -military or not-can empathize.

Tracey L. Sherman, writes about how the adolescent strains of the national anthem her daughter played on her violin shortly after her husband came out alive from the Ground Zero wreckage gave them hope and brought them back to life again, in her story "Strains of Freedom."

Another wife, Jane Garvey, fed up with having to take care of the children, the bills, the household and expecting a newborn alone, writes about a bouquet of flowers and a card, that simply said "Hello, Beautiful," that arrived on a day she almost gave up.

Overall, the book is a treasure of warm, fuzzy, memories that will pluck at readers' heartstrings and make them overwhelmingly proud of the families who stand beside our nation's warriors.

Did You Know?

Army National Guardsmen deployed to 81 countries in fiscal year 2004.

Source: National Guard Bureau