It’s a Friday, which means it is RED Friday.  What does that mean?  Remember Every Deployed.

To the majority of the country, it is just another day of the week in which they will get off work, go home to their family and celebrate the weekend.  Then there are those of us who will go home and play single mom/dad and try to just keep it all together for one more day and try to make sure that everyone is clean and fed while also getting to soccer and dance etc on time.  This Friday night we will be waiting for that FT call just to have a few minutes of a broken connection talk with lots of “ can you hear me?”  and delayed responses.

Going back to my honor’s English classes, I put together a poem ( who even writes these anymore) to give you some insight if you have never been through it before.

 

Twas the night before deployment training and all through the home

The duffel bags were packed and the all the gear stacked in a dome

The cell phone’s been cancelled, the job put on hold

This time next year will we all look more old?

We’ve said our goodbyes two or three time by then

Just start the deployment so he can get home again

The kids have their bears, their journals their books

But they don’t even know how much they will miss daddy, his hugs and his goofy looks

It’s now been 4 months and time has passed by both fast and slow

How is that even possible?  It’s military time and I just don’t know

In a room full of people, he lies awake all alone

While I dream of having a minute to myself in my home

The days come and go both so short and so long

Both sides feeling empty and sad, but trying to be so strong

We knew it was coming, but it is still so hard

Silly things are different, like how can we mow the yard

Who will take out the trash and help take them to sports

I’m managing 20 schedules while overseas he is stuck in a prison of sorts

Civilians say “thank him for his service”, and although that is nice

I’d love to be invited for a night out, that would suffice

They don’t understand that you not only miss the person themselves

You miss just having company so you don’t sit and talk to yourself

What doesn’t kill you makes your stronger, it’s builds character for us

He’ll be home before we know it, in that we have to trust

So for those of you who this means nothing to, please go and hug your loved ones this weekend and don’t fight over the fact that they didn’t fill up the gas tank before they got home or left the windows up with the AC on.

For those of you are with me right now in the middle of this, we got this.  We are strong and capable and after we get through this, we can get through anything.  If you need to complain, reach out, and remember that you are not alone.