Our Soldiers

I wrote this a week or so ago, mostly just to get my thoughts on paper. I shared it with Tyrone, who has asked me to put it up here. I went back and forth over the idea, because generally I keep what I write private, but, with my husband's encouragement, I am posting it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I never knew before this past year how much the military gives us. Yes, in some abstract way, I understood that they guarantee our rights, and that they're heros, and I believed it, too. I have military on both sides of my family, both my parents' fathers were in the service, as was my Father-in-law, and I've always been proud of that. But it never hit home before. And, I guess that it doesn't for many people.

Our soldiers give so much. So, so very much. Sure, they go over, and they serve in Iraq, or Afghanistan, but they are giving so much more than 15 months at a time. They are giving anniveraries, birth days, actual births, first smiles, first steps, and so much more. They are giving them for their country. They are giving them for us. They give them because they are duty and honor bound, no matter where their heart lies and where they desperately wish they could be.

Our soldier's families give. I am not a model army wife, so I'm not singing my own praises here. But I admire so much these women who watch their men go, time and again, and stand tall. Women like my Grandma, who has already given me words of wisdom. Their strength and tenacity has been tried and proven true in more ways and more times then most Americans could ever imagine. I hope, one day, to be like these women. Right now, however, I am just a young wife and mother counting each day while missing my husband with a ferocity that is astounding and at times, almost paralyzing.

Our soldier's children give. My sons are giving now, as we speak. My 3 year old asked for his Daddy tonight at bath time. When I reminded him that Daddy was in Iraq being a soldier, he said "oh, yeah", but what can those words mean to a 3 year old, really? How do you impart the importance of what Daddy's doing? And my 5 year old, well, he understands about long flights on the air plane that take people far away, so his questions are a little different. "Is Daddy on the plane back, yet?" and "Is Iraq further away than New York? Could we drive there?" And my daughter is giving....even though she doesn't know it. I know it. She is giving up having the Daddy who was wrapped around her finger from day one come running when she makes the smallest sound. She is giving up the cuddles, the late night Daddy time, and the sight of his pride as he shows her off. Because the only way he shows her off right now is to his battle buddies in the pictures I send with every letter.

And you know what? I didn't know....but I do now. I have an understanding that I could never have acquired except through this trial by fire. We've gotten through one month.....so many more to go. But make it, we will. My children and I will be there when our hero comes home, and our family will be stronger than ever. The deployments will not break this family. Our love is too strong, our commitment is too deep.

And, chances are, that he'll go again. He'll come home for a year, and then, he'll go again. And, still, we will wait, and hope, and love. And years from now, when this is so far behind us, and we have gray hair and grandchildren, I will still remember, and, so help me, I will pray for and thank every man and woman in uniform that I see. Because they give. And, for each soldier you see, there are countless wives, children, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers whose hearts are quietly breaking when those orders come down.

I am so incredibly proud. As a wife, I am proud of my husband for what he is doing. As an American, I am proud of each soldier for their sacrifice and devotion. Where else in the world would you find as many heros as you do in our country?

God bless our soldiers