For the few students like sophomore, Quinn VanDevelde and senior Katie VanDevelde, having a parent gone during the holidays can seem somewhat normal.Quinn says his dad has been gone for around 30% of his life, missing various things like holidays and birthdays.Their dad works for the military’s defense and is often gone throughout the world. Mr. VanDevelde is currently in Afghanistan and has been gone since July 2012 and will return January 2013.

They have other siblings that choose different ways to cope with him being gone, but for Quinn, he says, “I just don’t think about it as much.”

Not only for Quinn and his siblings is it extremely difficult, but also their mom. “She takes her stress out by working and also not thinking about it,” Quinn said.Since their dad has been gone for around 30% of Quinn’s life, he says deployments have become easier, but its difficult when he misses the holidays and birthdays. The longest he has been gone was for 18 months in Russia.

While its extremely difficult not having a parent always in the picture, Quinn has close friends that keep him going and stress free throughout his dad’s deployment.

For Katie, she has the same view about her dad being gone as Quinn, “I guess you could say that it’s gotten easier throughout the years, but him coming back is always extremely hard just because my parents are so different and my dad jumps in and tries to change everything when he gets back.”

During the holidays she says it’s extremely hard, but also having him gone allows the household to be more relaxed. “Now everything is just more nonchalant.” Says Katie.

Even before their parents were married, he was in the Army, which allowed them to grow up into this lifestyle rather than a new job that recently caused him to be deployed often.

Communication is one of the most difficult things that stresses people out during a deployment, for the VanDevelde’s, they email their dad to communicate. “Don’t get me wrong, it sucks, but this is how it’s always been.” Katie said,
The entire VanDevelde family is extremely affected by not having a leading male figure in the house, but they are use to the crazy lifestyle and continue to push through day after day.