Stories in Music

Has anyone heard the Chuck Wicks’ song “Man of the House?”

It’s about a little boy, age 10, who picks up the slack while his Dad is deployed. It explains that even though he’s only 10 and should be riding his bike and playing catch, he has other things to do. His Dad designated him the man of the house and so he makes coffee, gets his little sister on the bus, and more to help out his Mom.

It’s a familiar story to most military kids these days. When I was 14, my Dad deployed to Afghanistan. I often stayed up helping Mom organize FRG folders, or would attempt to make pasta for dinner on nights she was at meetings. I made sure my youngest sister got in the bath, that the dog got fed, that everyone’s homework was done every night. It was tiring and sad, because as a freshman in high school I wanted to go to slumber parties and out to the movies with my friends. But I had responsibilities and my Mom needed me, my sisters needed me, and my Dad was counting on me from over 5000 miles and 12 hours away. (We lived in Alaska).

Being in college, my middle sister is now in charge of those tasks. So, between being president of everything at her high school, managing various sports teams, babysitting, and going out with friends she also takes my youngest sister to birthday parties, school, tutoring sessions, feeds the dogs, does the dishes and anything else she can help with.

It’s hard for my mom to essentially function as a single parent, as it is for most spouses left behind. Waiting is possibly the hardest part of the deployments and life continues to go on. Without fail, when my Dad is gone someone hurts themselves, or there’s a disaster, or something falls apart. Two weeks after Dad deployed my youngest sister fell out of a tree and fractured her wrist, this summer our basement flooded with 10 inches of sewer water and we had to move. My Dad came home for Christmas, 2 days after he left I sliced my eye open.

So, the children of deployed families, like the Chuck Wicks’ song, pick up the slack and help as much as possible. There’s a need and they do their very best to fill it.

Sometimes though, I wonder if we missed out because we didn’t get to play as much catch or ride our bikes as often?