Here we go again

Here we go again. Getting ready for another deployment, another long year apart, another reason to worry, another heart-break for the kids. It's going to be harder this time since Brodie is at an age where she will understand Daddy is gone and not just "at work" as I'm inclined to tell her. She thinks the world revolves around him... well, and candy, too... I don't look forward to the first time she realizes he's gone for more than just "now." Or the time she calls out to him in the middle of the night, or comes looking for him on his side of the bed, only to find it empty. She is such a Daddy's Girl, I think this is going to be hard on both of them! Yes, Jason will miss his boys', too... but they are old, and young, enough to be able to handle it. They are his tough "Battle Buddies" and will make it through, tougher to the other side.

After last deployment and the loss of so many, I PRAY we don't go through that again. I don't want to console anymore parents who have lost their 18 and 19 year olds. Don't want to look into the eyes of the wife who will no longer have the loving arms of her husband around her. Tell those kids who will never see their father "it's ok." That's the bad side of this.
I don't want to have to order more bracelets with new names, make new coin boxes for the families of those we lost. Attend more Memorial Services. But, I will if God calls me to do it. I am tough and can make it through it. Army wives have to be tough or they couldn't handle the job. Those that aren't step to the side and let those that can handle the stress carry on. It's how we survive.

So, say a prayer for those deployed, for those left behind, for the kids who don't understand and the wives that just want to know their husbands are ok. For the parents who worry as much as the families. For those who don't come back, and for those who do come back, although not the same as they left.