Holidays in our house look a lot different then they used too but I am thankful for the 'different'. What do I mean by that? Let me explain...
My friend Mary wishes she knew my 'different'...you see, her only son Nick was killed in Iraq. I met her during my husband's second deployment to Iraq. They were in the same Marine battalion.
My friend Travis’ two children wish they knew my 'different'... Their dad was also killed in Iraq. We worked together as Navy corpsman before he was deployed to Iraq.My friend, Amanda, wishes she knew my 'different'... Her boyfriend Dan went missing in 2014 and after about 100 agonizing days he was found out in the freezing cold shot in the head. He had killed himself. He was a U.S. Army veteran.
I’ll take my different any day. I love my husband. Sure, he is more withdrawn than he used to be. It’s really easy for him to forget that myself and our kids have feelings too, that for them Christmas morning is about seeing that Santa came and then tearing into their gifts. It’s not about him sleeping a bit longer because he didn’t sleep the night before. It’s not about being quiet because he’s got a headache and it’s not having to worry about Dad drinking too much at family parties because people want to talk to him. I’ll take my different any day because I was able to see the smile on my kids face as they gave their dad the gift they made for him. My different is worth it because I heard the words, "Today was a good day" come out of my husband's mouth at the end of the day. My different is worth it because of no matter the words that come out of his mouth I know he loves us and fights battles every day to stay with us. My different holidays will always be worth it because he is here to share them and for that, I will always be thankful.
No comments:
Post a Comment