MID-CAL BLUE STAR MOMS

If you are a military mom, you may feel like no one understands what it is like to have a child serving in the military. Even if you have a good support network in place, it sometimes seems that no one truly "gets it" unless they have been where you are. It does not matter whether your child is in boot camp or a veteran, which branch of service they are in, whether they plan to make it a career, whether the reserve unit they joined to pay for college got activated unexpectedly, or anything else you may be facing, we "get it." We laugh together, we cry together, and we support each other as we work together to serve our sons and daughters.  We want you to join us, get involved, and stay busy!

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From a Blue Star Mom:

"I’ve been asked many times “what’s a Blue Star Mom?” The simple answer is a mother who has a child serving in the military. If only it were that simple…

We’re the mothers who raised a child to understand the true meaning of being an American. A child who would lay down his life for you and your freedom. And we understand the cost of freedom more than anyone else. The true cost is a mother’s heart. We’re the moms who wanted to scream “no, don’t do this” as we signed on the dotted line for a child to join the military.

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We send our children to boot camp thinking how in the world will he survive when he’s only been away from home once and that was to Boy Scout Camp. How will we survive without them?

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We attend Boot Camp graduation and stand with our hearts bursting with pride. We’ve somehow made it through this. Now what?

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They are called to war. Wait war!!! We didn’t sign up for this. The time comes and we stand in a parking lot waiting for buses to arrive that will take our kids away. We panic. Will this be the last time we hold our babies? How will they return? Will they return? We’ve protected them all their lives. We’ve kept them from danger as much as we could and now we have to let all that go.

We once again stand proud, holding back tears as best we can, and trying our hardest to be strong…to be a military mom all the while our hearts are breaking. We hug them one last time and say “don’t be a hero!”

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And just like that they’re gone!

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We pray and we pray and we pray. We make deals with God like never before. If you only let them come back. Take me instead of them. Keep them safe. That’s all we have left. For the first time in their lives we can no longer protect them. We have to turn it over to God and for the first time we realize how hard this is. God is in control…not us. We truly never were.

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We dress in red, white, and blue with our sons/daughters pictures pinned over our hearts. We stand proudly for the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance as they both have new meaning. We truly understand the meaning of Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. We have yellow ribbons tied around our trees and fly the American Flag year around.

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We pray that our star never turns to gold. However, we stand next to those whose stars have turned. We will never know what they are going through, but they are our sisters and it is our duty to be there for them in any way we can. We must never forget they have paid for our freedom…with their hearts."

~J. Broussard

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