I got a Facebook message from an old friend. She’s not old, she’s just been a friend for a long time. 🙂
She knew me during the first deployment and was at my house almost every day. She gets it.
She also gets it because out of the last 36 months her husband has been deployed 30.
30.
She told me to hang in there. She shared how last year she didn’t even put up Christmas decorations, how it seems like she hasn’t made dinner in about a year, and how her kids are handling everything.
Her message was encouraging, because sometimes it feels good knowing that you’re not the only one who feels like skipping Christmas, or serves cereal for dinner, or gets mad because he left.
During our last deployment we lived on a base and were surrounded by folks who were either going through exactly we what we were going through or who had been there before.
Now we live in a neighborhood where people work Monday through Friday and go to the mall and out to dinner on the weekends.
Nice folks who don’t understand why anyone would want to skip Christmas or eat cereal three nights in a row.
Writing this every day (or most days) has been one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time. It’s hard to put it out there and there’s always this nagging feeling that people will think I’m a terrible wife, parent, or friend.
But after reading my friend’s message I realized that hearing from someone else that the things I’m feeling were NORMAL made a huge difference. I felt like this weight had been lifted from me.
It’s like there is a little club (although it isn’t that little anymore) for folks who have gone through it. They understand most things without even asking a question.
They just get it.
It’s pretty awesome in a strange way.
My husband has been deployed to the Middle East for 274 days. These are my real thoughts expressing my heart during his absence. I appreciate your prayers and kind words as we cope, adapt, and carry on without him until August 2014. To read from the beginning, click here.
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