How to Cope with Missing Your Wedding Anniversary During Your Spouse's Deployment

A deployment means more than spending months at a time apart from family and friends. It also means missing out on important events in life such as the birth of your child, a high school graduation and wedding anniversaries. This article will offer advice to spouses who know they will be apart during their wedding anniversary due to a deployment.

How to Cope with Missing Your Wedding Anniversary During Your Spouse's Deployment: Celebrate Early

There is no hard and fast rule that says you must celebrate your wedding anniversary on the exact date that you were married each year. For military couples, this is simply not practical, especially during deployments and other occasions when they have to be apart due to work responsibilities. But in order to celebrate your wedding anniversary early, you will need to make plans early as well. Is it possible to snatch a few days away together before the deployment? Or must the military member be close at hand for training purposes? Look at what you would normally do to celebrate the occasion, such as exchanging anniversary cards, buying each other gifts and going out for a meal and then try to do that early. With proper forethought, a wedding anniversary can still be special if it is celebrated early. It will also give the couple special memories to share during the deployment.

How to Cope with Missing Your Wedding Anniversary During Your Spouse's Deployment: Don't Dwell on Loss

It is easy to become depressed and dwell on the loss of yet another special occasion that you cannot share with your spouse because of their impending deployment. But this attitude will only waste the precious time you have together before their departure. Do you want one of your spouse's last memories of you to be of you moping around feeling sorry for yourself? Once you know that you and your spouse will miss your wedding anniversary together, try to push the negative thoughts out of your mind. After all, there is nothing you can do to change the situation.

How to Cope with Missing Your Wedding Anniversary During Your Spouse's Deployment: Calls, Cards and Presents