gone, gone, gone....

It was a FABULOUS forty days, but now my beloved is somewhere over the Atlantic en route to Kuwait. I feel totally numb. I don't think the entirety of the situation has completely hit me. Through my tears at the airport we agreed we would end this madness. Five years. Five more years, that's all we'll do of this. Okay, six including this one. That's all the Army gets of my man, then I get him back. I don't know how we'll do it, but we will. I don't ever want luxury cars or big, fancy houses. I want a husband that I can hold and kiss and smell whenever. I want my kids to be able to spontaneously wrestle or play practical jokes on their daddy. I want my family back together.

I know some may say that I knew about this life when I said, "I do." I did know about this life. I lived it as a child. My dad went on cruises with the Navy leaving us for nine months at a time. I, myself, swore not to marry a man in the military. Life and love have other plans for us. I married my soulmate. There is no one on planet Earth better suited for me than Ron. Only, when you're a wife and a mom, you look through the lenses of this life a little differently. You ache for the separation your children have from their father. You feel the emptiness of not having your partner present. It's a whole different enchilada.

I love my country. My husband loves our country. He has served proudly, doing whatever the army has asked of him. This is not a dig on the United States or the army. This is simply a wife missing her husband for another year.