Wife's song provides encouragement to spouse, others during separation

  • Published
  • By John Ingle
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Heather Wagner watched intently as the dramatic scene played out on her television screen.

A Soldier was deploying. And there by the departure gate, his wife and children hugged and kissed their goodbyes as tears cascaded down their faces. 

As Heather's gaze drifted from the television to her husband, Tech. Sgt. James Wagner, she could tell the difficulties of saying goodbye on his upcoming deployment weighed heavily on his heart. 

"I don't want you to look at this and think this is what we're going to be doing," she said to her husband of seven years. 

Despite her words, she could tell he was still bothered. 

When the F-16 Fighting Falcon crew chief finally deployed, she wanted him to know that life will go on even though he would be half a world away for a year. That is why she wrote the song, "Keep Living." 

"I wanted to let my husband know that things are going to be all right," she said. 

During one of their many phone conversations following his departure, she told him about the song she had written. She sang it to him on the phone, and it helped set his mind at ease regarding how the family was holding up during his absence.

The song was intended to convey the thoughts so many families faced during long deployments or remote tours. Mrs. Wagner said she wanted the song to give her husband peace of mind, to allow him to focus on his mission without wondering if his family was OK.

"I consider this my way of serving," she said.

"Keep Living" didn't stop with the Wagners. Mrs. Wagner said a friend of hers was having a hard time coping with the departure of her spouse. The two talked for a while, and Mrs. Wagner told her about the song she wrote. The mezzo-soprano then sang the words of getting by while a servicemember was gone, and she too, felt encouraged by the simple, but powerful words.

Through word of mouth, news about the song reached other spouses, and requests came in for copies of the 27-year-old's home recording of the song.

"People I didn't know were knocking on my door," she said.

To let others hear her song, she cut a compact disc, due out in a few weeks.
 
(Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)