Valkery. The warrior women of Norse myth and legends that swoop down into battle and rescued the worthy Viking warriors and delivered them to Oden for their rewards, to save them. These women weren't slight, impish, maidens, more girl than not. No, they were powerful, exacting, strong, decisive, they were mature and beautiful.
In many ways, what the warriors of lore were relating, in some small way, was knowledge of surviving another battle and returing home to their wives - their own Valkeries. What I have come to realise through my own daily trials and grind, is that the Veteran's Wives is the modern day Valkeries. At the end of the battle, at the end of the war, we are the strong arms that are there to welcome the warriors home. We are the calm in the storm.
We have been tested, and hardened, and we know our own worth. We are strong, we value ourselves, our family, and our warriors. A veteran once told me he saw it like this, "When your Vet gets too tired to hold his sheild, you're there to pick it up and carry it for him. You have his back." He then thanked me for my service. Valkeries are in it as much as their Veterans are. It's not easy, it's not fun, but it's what Valkeries do.
What few people understand is that once a warrior seperates from the military that close knit band of brothers practically evaporates over night, and he will never feel so alone as he does then, even surrounded by "real family". That closely guarded set of routines that he has been living his every waking moment, for how many years, falls by the way side when there isn't a chain of command to worry about, and "civilians do everything wrong" becomes a mantra. The one bridge between their past lives, current, and future are their Valkeries. He may resent that bridge at times, but warriors and Valkeries are timeless, they alway end up at the party together. To be with a warrior it helps to be a warrior yourself. The slight, impish, maidens just won't survive.
Valkery, part myth, part legend, the modern day Veteran's Wife.
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