![photo-1495539406979-bf61750d38ad (1).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/lightpen/241tUu9FUhGn72RXrJ9zea9MCM1c4yLcjqFXr7aPRw7SJ5bvzDqnWaqg2M867y1y4LMvw.jpeg)
[Image Source](https://unsplash.com/photos/man-on-grass-field-looking-at-sky-JrZ1yE1PjQ0)
<div class=text-justify>

"An Air Force helicopter crashed while taking on bandits." The headline news read on the television. "Efforts are in place to rescue the soldiers."
 
Sandra watched in numbed horror. Her eyes grew impossibly wide. This kind of update is one of the worst he detest hearing.
 
"May God save Mike wherever he is. May the stubbornness of this man not scatter our marital journey and turn me to a widow."

It was five years already that Mike joined the Air Force against the wish of his newly wedded wife. 

---

The day that Mike came back home from his office with his copy of the application letter wasn't a good day for Sandra. 

"Babe, I am sorry that I didn't tell you. I am making a very major decision about my career," he told his wife. 

With her legs crossed, fingers intertwined over one knee, Sandra leaned forward to look into his husband's eyes.

"I think we have concluded about this a few weeks before our wedding. Why the sudden change after the wedding?"

"There is no better sacrifice to our country than to serve in the military to defend our territorial integrity. I have applied to join the Air Force and here is a copy of my application form."

Sandra's nostril flared as she stirred at the form. Her heart raced in her chest as she read through the paper given to her. After a few minutes, she slammed the form on the table and walked out of the room. 

With his fingers in his mouth he expected what he was getting from his wife. 

Mike made it to the guest room where Sandra had gone. Sandra knelt beside the bed with her face on the mattress sobering in the dark.
 
"Aren't you taking this too far?" Mike asked her after putting on the light. 

"I felt betrayed," Mike. "This is not fair."
 
"Babe, this is just an application stage. I still have a long way to go before joining the Air force fully. Let's leave this discussion till another day."

He lifted Sandra up and wiped her tears. 

Sandra was vehemently against the idea of Mike joining the military. 

A few months later, Mike's name was shortlisted to resume training. He couldn't approach his wife to tell her that he would be going for training in a few days. As the day approached, he thought of how best to handle the situation and he decided to go and meet his father-in-law, a retired Army General.
 
"Daddy," as he do call him, "I have come to plead with you to help talk to Sandra to allow me to join the Air force." Mike said as he handed over the copy of his invitation to the retired General popularly called Old soldier. 

"Sandra!!! My girl will never change." Old soldier smiled as he read through the invitation. 

He leaped back to maintain a balance on his armchair. He had been hit on his left leg with a bullet during the civil war. 

"This is what I have been telling her brothers. There is no profession nobler than defending your country but they refused to listen. The day I handed Sandra to you in marriage, I promised to take you as my son and I am happy that you are making me happy. I will follow you to talk to her."

The old soldier never hid his wish to have his children take after him in the job that he did diligently and rose to the peak. 

His intervention changed the equation. Sandra loves his father. Perhaps, because she was the only daughter amidst five boys. 

"Just allow him to follow his passion like your mother supported me to do during my time."
 
"I am scared. I don't want to lose my husband to the risk of a military job."

"Life doesn't happen the way we envisaged. If he is destined to get to old age, he would achieve that in any profession he chose to belong." The retired General concluded.

Sandra was made to give his approval to Mike's potential sojourn in the military. 

---

Two days after the unfortunate air mishaps, two soldiers came to Sandra to notify her of the unfortunate departure of her husband.

On sighting the soldiers with one of his brothers-in-law, she knew that something was up. 

"To God be the glory. I have come on behalf of the armed forces to notify you as the primary next of kin that we lost your husband in the line of duty." One of the soldiers announced. 

The other one was a military chaplain and he went biblical to comfort Sandra. 

Sandra could not hold the heartbreak as she fell on the floor in a disheveled heap as her grief poured out in a flood of uncontrollable tears. A great sobbing was over her as she covered her face with shaking hands. The chaplain didn't relent in his efforts to calm her down. 

"This is like a dream. I think time has to travel back to our discussion a few days to our wedding.

Sandra was a school teacher who within three years of her career was made assistant Headteacher of a primary school.

"Congratulations, my beautiful fiance. Mike had congratulated her upon breaking the news of her promotion a few days to their wedding. "This is a perfect wedding gift for me. You are giving me the required confidence that our envisaged investment in education will be in good hands."
 
Mike was a banker who was doing well financially. It was their plan to save up money and establish a school in a fews years to be managed by Sandra.

Sandra's imagination took her to the future of that plan. She leaned on her couch to have a few minutes of quietness while the military team watched on.

---

Mike saved up the money as planned and the primary school was established. Sandra wrote the vision and mission statements of the school and that was what enticed people to enroll their kids in the promising elementary school. There was an unexpected surge in enrollment.
 
A few months after, Mike completed his MBA and got a job with a leading financial institution that had been his dream. 

"My love, we have made it." He announced the development to his wife as he brandished the employment letter. 

She pumped her feet in the air and screamed a 'Hurrah' at him. She couldn't contain her excitement.
 
The life that they planned to live a few years ago is manifesting.

---
 
"No! No!! No !!! The dream was cut short by him leaving everything to join the military." She shouted herself back to reality.

"Whatever the dream was, have a solace in the fact that your husband died while defending our Nation and he will never be forgotten." The chaplain consoled Sandra further.
 
She decided to accept her fate and mourn her husband. 

She appreciated the military team and they promised to return back in 24 hours to discuss the funeral.</div>