SpouseBUZZ is a forum for milspouses, so naturally we tend to discuss issues from our perspective. This morning, via Semper Fi Wife, I came across a very powerful blog post written from the perspective of a soldier.
As we agonizingly inch closer to the day we have to leave our friends and family for a distant, hostile war zone, I struggle with the wide range of emotions I experience from day to day, moment to moment. Monday morning I woke up for what I believed to be my last full week of work at Camp Dodge in Des Moines, planning to return home on Friday and then head to our sendoff on Sunday morning.
As I ran around the house at the last minute, collecting my things, looking for my phone charger, trying to get out the door, I realized that Carolyn was already sitting in my truck in the driveway. Right away, I knew something was wrong. As I hopped in, and with tears in her eyes, she announced "So, where are we going?" It broke my heart. She knew she couldn't come to Des Moines with me, but she was just trying to delay the inevitable.
So, we sat in the car and talked. And cried. And held hands. Both of us doing our best to make the most of our last days together before I am gone for a full year. About that time, our 2 year old daughter was carried out to the truck by Grandma Julie, as she had just woken up for the day. She wanted to sit on my lap and drive the truck (she loves sitting in the car out in the driveway!). She wanted to honk the horn, turn the wipers on, turn the radio up. She was having fun with Dad in the "big truck."
But I had to go, so I carried her back to the house, hand-in-hand with Carolyn, and tried to hand her back over to my wife as she started to realize that I was leaving again. She started crying. And that's when she said something I've never heard her say before, and something that will stick with me the rest of my life:
Don't go Daddy. I need you.
Grace, I need you. And I need your Mom. And I need your baby brother Nick too. I need you all.
Read the rest here. You won't be sorry.
