"How Annoying!"

A friend of mine called me a couple of weeks ago to vent about the things her husband does that annoy her. She told me about how he always leaves his toothpaste spit in the sink, and how he leaves the toilet seat up, and how he talks while he's chewing, how he never takes the kids off her hands for a few hours when he gets home from work... She finished up the conversation with, "Do you know what I mean?!"
I thought for a minute before I answered her. And to be honest, I don't know what she means. I suppose that one of the positive side effects of being a military wife is that you aren't so easily bugged by trivial things like that.
I think right now I would give anything to see my husband's toothpaste spit in the sink, or to have to put the toilet seat down after him! I have learned very quickly not to take the time that I have with my sweet husband for granted. I guess there is a certain fondness I have developed for the things that he does that may annoy other people. Maybe because I don't always know when he'll be home again, and know how much I'll miss those things while he is gone. And wherever he is, I hope he's missing my annoying little things too.

No one prays harder for an end to war than those sent to the battle's front and the loved ones they leave behind.

Last night my little girl fell asleep with my cell phone. She opened it and laid it on her pillow where she could see the screen saver picture of her daddy. I tried to take it from her when I thought she was out, but she immediately corrected me. "Where my daddy go?" she asked me. "Daddy is at work, sweetheart. But he loves and misses you very much." Then she took the phone back from me and laid down. After repeating this cycle a few more times, I finally just left the phone with her. Eventually she fell asleep. In the morning, we went through our normal routine. She woke up and asked where her daddy was, again. I told her he was at work, and we made our way to his picture hanging in the hallway. The glass is sticky with her little kisses, which she ceremoniously leaves there every day, often several times a day, when she's really missing him. I sometimes have to remind myself when I'm feeling frustrated at her what a tremendous sacrifice she and every other military child makes when daddy or mommy is far away for a long time. I think a little piece of their hearts deploy with their parent just like a piece of mine deploys with my husband. God bless our sweet military children! They sacrifice so much!

I am a small and precious child, my dad’s been sent to fight..
The only place I'll see his face, is in my dreams at night.
He will be gone too many days for my young mind to keep track.
I may be sad ,but I am proud. My daddy's got your back..
I am a caring mother. My son has gone to war..
My mind is filled with worries that I have never known before.
Everyday I try to keep my thoughts from turning black.
I may be scared, but I am proud. .My son has got your back..
I am a strong and loving wife, with a husband soon to go.
There are times I'm terrified in a way most never know.
I bite my lip, and force a smile as I watch my husband pack..
My heart may break, but I am proud. .My husbands got your back..
I am a soldier. Serving Proudly ,standing tall.
I fight for freedom, yours and mine by answering this call.
I do my job while knowing, the thanks it sometimes lacks.
Say a prayer that I'll come home. It's me whose got your back.

-Author Unknown

Wings Of Hope by Kelly Rossi

I'm the one you walk past in Wal-Mart smelling a man's brand of deodorant and buying the same brand of shower gel. I'm trying to remember his smell.
I'm the one you see in the back of the church, a tear running down my face as the congregation prays for our country and our troops. He's one of them.
I'm the one you beep at for sitting at a green light. I was looking at the flag blowing in the breeze at the corner gas station and thinking of all it means to me, to him, and to our life together.
I’m the one with a trunk full of flat rate boxes and customs forms, I know my local postal workers by name. The package I send him every pay day makes him seem close to me.
I'm the one with a funny looking decal in the back windshield of my car, you wonder where it came from and if it might mean something. He gave it to me before he left, it's his MOS and we are proud.
I'm the one you walk past at work everyday; you notice the pin on my shirt but never bother to ask why I wear it. It's the crest of the unit he serves with; I’ll wear it everyday until he comes back home.
I'm the one you walk past as I completely fall apart and lose it because I left my cell phone at home. You might think “it's just a phone”, but it's the life line of my marriage and it was his day to call.
I'm the one you have labeled as quiet or reserved, the one who is never really part of anything, you don't know I wear the far - a- way look because my heart boarded the plane with his.
I'm the one that hears "tell him I say thanks, that I’m praying for him" at least once a day, and I always tell him for you, but I can't help but think, who prays for me as I continue to do my best to serve him.
I'm the one that nods right along as you say that you understand or that it's better now with the internet. I know that it is, but what you don't know is that nothing will ever replace the joy of receiving a letter or that the webcams and instant messenger just remind me of all the million little things about him that I love and miss.
I'm the one that is so used to saying I’m fine, to being numb, to missing him, that I can't remember any other way to be. I wonder at times if the ‘fine’ he tells me is the same ‘fine’ that I seem to be these days.
I’m the one that hates Friday and Saturday nights as I sit alone at home. I’m in a new town and don’t know anyone to hang out with. The weekends remind me my best friend isn’t here to show me around and make the best of a new place together.
I’m the one that eats more frozen dinners now because I don’t want to cook for just myself. The one who six months ago couldn’t picture myself eating out alone; but have since taken it to an art-form, no longer even needing a book or headphones to displace the emptiness of a nice restaurant.
I’m the one that is as strong and patriotic as the hero I married, not because I stand on the frontlines but because I stay behind stoking the home-fires for months on end with a quiet resolve not unlike the one that personifies him.
I'm the one that tells an ACU teddy bear or the moon goodnight that I love you, because it makes me feel less lonely and because I hope he somehow hears or feels it.
I'm the one that turns the porch light on at sunset to light his way back home, to me, to our life together, to the love and the good times we once shared.
I'm the wife of an American Solider; I’m the hope that lives within him after storm clouded days. The freedom from war that gives wings to his heart, may they reach across the miles and bind our hearts together against all that we must face in this world.