February 26, 2010
Birthday
Today my oldest – Skate – is 19. Such an amazing kid and I love him so much. He is away from me right now too…but hopefully will be coming to live with us and start school this summer. This is the first birthday of his that I’ve ever missed. 
February 23, 2010
Hmmm
Kind of a slow day today. Chatted with Soldier briefly earlier, but I had to go to a dental appointment. Got very bad news there. Bleh. I hate the dentist. Wish I had more to report, but that’s about it. LOL
February 20, 2010
Te amo
Just had a really nice chat with Soldier. He’s pretty tired again. I cannot believe how hard he works. He’s usually the last one to stop for the day.
Our talk was pretty good…lots of laughs again. He said the nicest thing to me once….he really likes to talk to me at the end of his day because I really help him relax and wind down from all the stress. He said there’s a big difference between the nights when we talk and when we don’t have a chance. I was so touched when he said that. As I wrote on here before, sometimes I feel so helpless in terms of doing anything for him while he’s gone…but at least I can provide him with a few minutes of nice conversation so he can rest.
That’s part of the reason why I don’t like to bring too many of my problems to him. Especially one’s he can do nothing about. I have starting bringing some smaller things up to him, just because I know he likes to problem-solve. He’s really level-headed and often times sees sides to an issue that never occur to me. I think to some degree he likes being involved in things going on back here and being able to help out.
I think helping each other with small things or just providing a way to relax and have a few moments of fun are the best way for us to stay connected. It’s nice to feel needed and helpful to someone. I know I like it and I’m pretty sure he does too. He ends all of our chats with some form of “I love you”…lately it’s been “te amo”…and I love hearing those words from him in any language.
February 18, 2010
Trust
I just sent the following email to Soldier:
I was checking out some of the features on my new cell phone. Apparently you can like “set as secret” phone numbers and contacts. So that if someone looks at your contacts or your incoming/outgoing calls, they can’t see people/numbers you have hidden. NICE. Unless you’re a spy or an undercover cop with informants why would you ever need this function for a legitimate purpose?? For most people it would either be hiding things from parents or from a partner/spouse.
Oh and it also has that creepy stalker function that let’s you locate via GPS all the people on your plan if they have a similar phone. It’s called “Sprint Family Locator” but the service costs extra. So when you get back, we’ll get you a phone like this, set up the service, and then we can sit around all day creepy checking where the other one is.
It’s just heartwarming how Samsung and Sprint are promoting familial trust, harmony and closeness. I’d love to see an ad campaign highlighting these features. LOL
I wrote this in a joking manner, but trust actually is a serious issue. I’ve had a lot of people ask me questions about how he and I can trust each other when he is gone so much. I find the question to be kind of rude, but I can understand why people think of it. Military divorce rates aren’t great. It is a lot of time to spend away from the person you love and it can get really lonely.
I don’t want to speak for or judge anyone who has a trust crisis in a marriage…only the people involved really know what goes on. I guess I just look at it like this – I made a promise to him when I married him and I intend to keep my promise. It’s that simple. He once told me about a discussion he had with a younger soldier and an officer. He told the younger guy that he didn’t really like serving with guys that he knows cheat on their wives. The young guy didn’t understand and asked him to explain. Soldier replied with something along these lines, “If one of my teammates is going to be dishonest and untrue to the one person that he promised to love and cherish above all others…how could I ever trust that such a person is really going to be watching my back in a bad situation?” The officer who overheard told both the young guy and Soldier that he agreed with this 100%. He also used what Soldier said in a briefing about marriage and fidelity that he gave to the group.
Soldier has put an ENORMOUS amount of trust in me. I control all our finances. I can buy and sell things and open lines of credit in his name. I can even make medical decisions for him if he’s hurt or incapacitated…including turning off life support. I cannot imagine a scenario where I would abuse the trust he has placed in me. I consider it an honor that he thinks so much of me and loves me so much that he trusts me with these kinds of things. With what he said to that younger soldier (and I know he believes it completely) and his placing so much trust and faith in me…I trust him as well. He would never do anything to hurt or shame me any more than I would do it to him.
So the email I sent him was intended to be funny…but I guess it’s ultimately kind of sad that such functions are available. I guess I can only be glad that I know I will never have a need to use them and neither will he.
February 17, 2010
New worry
Soldier had a slight accident and has broken a rib…or two. Unfortunately, there is no way to get an x-ray where he is. He had medics look at him and they don’t think it’s too bad. I just got done chatting with him and he said it can get pretty painful…and sneezing is the absolute worst. I feel so terrible for him. What a thing to have to deal with on top of everything else. He’s always such a good sport about things. Last night when he phoned and told me about this, the way he told the actual story of what happened had me laughing so hard. I felt guilty for laughing and then even more so when he said laughing hurts him too. I know he’s a tough strong man…but I so wish he was home so I could baby him and take care of him.
February 15, 2010
Better
Things are going a little better here now. Soldier got his care package today and he said he really likes everything in it. I need to get another one going for him. I’d like to try to send one each time he tells me he got the last one. Oh jeez – it’s treadmill time. Maybe more later.
February 13, 2010
Blues
Down and out of sorts so no posts for a while. Not really sure what the deal is. Missing Soldier quite a bit and feeling really disconnected from everything. Must get past this.
February 7, 2010
More laughter…
I didn’t get a chance to talk or chat with Soldier today, but we did have the following funny email exchange:
Me to Soldier:
Please review the proposal below. If you are in agreement, let me know and I will use the power of attorney to sign for you.
For the proceeding agreement, let it be established that “Husband” hereby refers to Soldier and “Wife” refers to Me.
A. Husband and Wife generally acknowledge that Husband is:
- Deployed overseas
- Incredibly busy
- Somewhat forgetful
- A great guy
- Loves his wife madly
B. Given the stipulations in Part A, Subsections 1 – 3, Wife deems it likely that Husband will completely space off that Valentine’s Day is one week away.
C. It is highly unlikely that Husband disagrees with the finding in Part B, but insists that it is only Part A, Subsections 1 – 3 that made him forget and because of Subsections 4 & 5 he surely would have remembered under other circumstances.
D. In an unrelated action, Wife recently purchased for herself one Samsung Exclaim cellular phone. (Let it be noted that Wife asked for and received Husband’s meowing permission to make such a purchase.)
E. Wife is proposing to Husband that the aforementioned cellular phone be designated as Husband’s Valentine’s Day gift to Wife for the year 2010.
F. Husband agrees to the proposal in Section E under the condition that he be released from any further obligations, guilt, pouty lips, recriminations, snide remarks, mean mugs, or any other expressions of an uncomfortable nature having anything to do with Valentine’s Day 2010.
G. Husband further proposes that the agreement entered into via this contract may be used for any upcoming anniversaries or birthdays in 2010.
H. Wife says she will take the proposal in Section G under advisement to be discussed again by all parties as those dates approach.
I. Wife also promises to remind Husband when those dates are approaching.
Let it be noted that Wife signed the above contract and it only remains for Husband to voice his approval or disapproval.
Soldier to Me:
Great Lady,
Allow me to state for now and evermore that verily do I accede to thy wisdom in this matter my dear wife, and do offer my unequivocal support in said matters. Furthermore I wish to proclaim that any creature, be they on two legs or four who attempts to hinder these righteous efforts will find their death as swift as it is certain.
Your Lord and husband, Thor (or tor if your tongue has been anesthetized)
:You crack me up babe.
Me to Soldier:
My Lord and Husband,
Your mirth and good-tidings bestow joyousness upon me!
I offer you all love and fealty in return.
Pray, allow me to bid you adieu as I am off to partake of victuals with your loyal vassal, Sir M—.
I wish you pleasant slumber my brave Liege and pledge to you my undying troth,
Your Lady Chatelaine
Soldier to Me:
I am too tired to try and outdo you. Laughing
Soldier
Me to Soldier:
That’s what you get for showing up for a battle of the wits unarmed!
Or at least un-rested.
Hope you’re sleeping well right now. I am off for a nap myself.
Love you much.
February 5, 2010
Laughter
Once again just got a phone call from Soldier. We got cut off, but still managed to have a nice talk for 20 minutes or so. There has been some terrible stuff going on here at home involving a third person. It’s been very stressful for both of us and particularly upsetting to me. I haven’t wanted to deal with it and have hated that Soldier has been bothered with it. Not only that, so much of our recent communication – through all media - has been devoted to this issue. This was one of the first times in quite a while that we were able to really just talk – about ourselves, about trivial things, about silly stuff. There were a couple of times where we were both just sharing some laughter. I cannot begin to explain how nice that was. There are a million things I miss about Soldier every single day. His laughter and laughing with him might be at the top of that list.
February 2, 2010
Reset!
Soldier called! This is the first chance we’ve had to speak on the phone since he left. It was so good to actually hear his voice (though it’s worrisome how tired he sounded). Somehow the internet access in his room is out so he made the special effort to call. I’m sure he knows that I start to worry. I am so lucky to have a husband that is so thoughtful. Our conversation was very brief, but it was wonderful.
So now it’s time to set the panic clock back to…2 hours…tick tick tick.
