”Serving Time”

I’m not a criminal, nor is my husband, but boy do I feel that way since moving here.  We’re “serving our time” here in Virginia for the next 3 years.  Serving time, a phrase frequently used to refer to jail time; I’d like to use it to denote a feeling rather than an actuality in this case.  

We were thrilled to get sentenced (orders) to the DC area.  We were told how amazing and diverse the area is, and it is.  One thing we weren’t told and have since learned is how unsupportive the area is to its military.  

In the few short months we’ve been here we’ve felt more and more isolated in our tiny cell.  First it was the empty promises of starting a military club for our middle schooler (an 8th grader starting at his 7th new school).  Next it was Veterans Day, a day to honor and revere those who have served and are serving our nation.  A day to remember those who have gone before us to afford us freedom and things like public education.

We were certain upon arriving in the NOVA area we’d be welcomed by fellow VEts, active duty, and a community and schools that supported all those “serving time.”  Instead what we’ve found is a school and community that says one thing and does another.  We’ve got gate guards (administrators, counselors, school boards) who hold the keys to unlocking our proverbial cells and instead have added tighter security.  

How is it we can teach our kids about freedom in history class, yet we can’t celebrate those who made that freedom possible?  How can we say we support the military child, yet we do nothing to support them?  

I think the inmates (service members and their families) got the message loud and clear, school on Veterans Day, the announcement went out over the loud speaker accompanied by sirens and warnings.  The barb wired wrapped electric fence you’ve put around us should keep us contained pretty well.  Thanks for keeping us safe inside our prison walls!

Instead of spending the day with my kids and Veteran, I spent the day explaining to my kids we were wrongfully accused of a crime we didn’t commit.  I told them we hadn’t done anything wrong and we just had to play by the rules of the warden.  He says school on Veterans Day, so we have school on Veterans Day.  I made sure to tell my kids we should be incredibly proud of our service members and anyone who’s “served time.”  

So here I am, appealing to the judge to let us “free” on Veterans Day. 

I’m grateful for guards (principals &PTOs) who see the truth and choose honor even when they too have been sentenced unlawfully.

How did I spend my Veterans Day? I marched down an aisle along with other prisoners celebrating our “serving time.”  I held my head a little higher and puffed my chest a little bigger knowing my fellow inmates had also been wrongly accused and we’d continue to serve time together.  

Hear my appeal and set the prisoners free, unlock their cells and unbind their hands, they have real work to do—keeping our country free! Doesn’t everyone booked get a “free phone call” they deserve a day for good behavior!