Top 10 Things I Appreciate About Having My Servicemember Home

Like most servicemembers, my husband has been absent. A lot. But there are times when he actually is around long enough for me to appreciate him and all the little things his presence brings to our family.

Of course I appreciate the obvious positives of living in the same house as my husband, like sharing a bed and parental duties, but I also have to remember to be thankful for the little things that are often forgotten until he’s gone and their absence slaps me in the face.

Here are my top 10 things I appreciate about having my servicemember home:

1. There’s someone to smash cockroaches and spiders with a shoe instead of pretending they aren’t there and hoping they jump into the toilet and flush themselves.

2. I don’t have to perform complicated acrobatics to zip up a dress.

3. I can eat dinners that don’t include the words Kraft, nuggets, or pepperoni.

4. My car has more than a 0% chance of being washed.

5. A reminder that I need to do yard work no longer comes in the form of dirty looks from my neighbors.

6. I have personal tech support on-call 24 hours a day for those times when I just can’t figure out what the heck my iPhone is doing.

7. My kids get double the attention, hugs, smiles, kisses, giggles, tickles, and cuddles.

8. I can have grown-up conversations, real discussions that don’t revolve around Harry Potter, SpongeBob or poop.

9. Murphy goes on vacation. Toilets stop leaking, cars stop breaking down, and light bulbs don’t burn out.

10. I know that every day someone who loves me will walk in the door and ask me, “How was your day today?”

What do you appreciate about the times when your servicemember is home?