The Life of The American Military Family

*Sending emails like this one:

just wanted to say hey

i know about Daniel Lee (i actually knew about it shortly after it happened) and just read about another ISAF guy being killed in the last 24 hours.

sending love.

2 to the heart.  1 to the mind.

know that your heart is very much on my mind and that your mind is very much in my heart.

forever, 
me

*Having one foot in a bizarre life-and-death existence and the other trying to keep in step in a world where the biggest concern is the Super Bowl.

*Always being aware that the "if anything happens to me" letters sit in a box in the bottom in your closet.  

*Knowing that  the scars of war don't disappear when the deployment ends.

*Agonizing as you have to try to choose between the lesser of these two evils:  having your spouse miss the birth of your first child or the first year of his/her life. 

*Realizing how fortunate you are that your spouse is alive so you are faced with even contemplating that "choice"- as maddening and unfair as the "choice" can feel as you are bombarded by approximately five hundred bajillion pictures of pregnancy announcements, birth announcements, and happy families celebrating the first birthdays of their babies.  Looking at a picture like this and feeing completely flooded as you contemplate the matter.  Add infertility issues to the mix and you've got all kinds of overwhelming.

*Knowing in my heart of hearts this is where our family is called, having peace about this fact, and being certain that there's no place else I'd rather be.  

The choices and realities we are in the midst of facing because of our obligations to our government and country overwhelm me in some moments, but having the opportunity to serve and be a part of this incredible family [and in the recent weeks, I have recognized more than ever that the ties we share with our military community run deeper than blood] is one of the greatest honors and privileges I have ever known.  

The greatest honor and privilege is knowing in the depths of my heart that this world is not my home.  And resting in this truth: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.  1 Cor. 13:12.

A close second is being this man's wife: 

I am married to an American hero.  He will deny it to his grave and renounce that kind of title for the rest of his lifetime, but the valor, strength, and commitment that I have bore witness to this man demonstrate as he has served our country takes my breath away like no grand romantic gesture ever could.  

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  Psalm 23:4