The worst part of deployments isn't actually the big stuff. It's not the holidays you celebrate apart or the weddings and events that only one of you get to attend. It's not the hassle of taking care of the house alone.
Nope.
The hard part catches me at the most random times on the most boring days.
I miss a hundred things. But mostly, I miss having Paul come home after work to give me a hug. I miss the closeness SO MUCH. I have realized on this adventure that it takes thousands of words to barely scratch the surface of a facial expression or a touch. And believe me, words I have. In plenty. But I'd do anything for a real life conversation. I'd go back in time, invest in Skype and tell them to start working on a machine that can teleport people - Star Trek style. And while I was there, I'd ask whomever is in charge of the government if we could just quit with the deployments already.
But anyway.
All of that to say :
I hate that Paul had to spend his birthday in Afghanistan. And I wanted to do something big. But you can't send helium balloons. And burritos & strong beer don't ship well either. And the Navy turned down my offer to buy him a round-trip ticket from Afghanistan to Oxnard. (Also, there's not an airport in Oxnard.) And Paul wants for exactly zero material goods. (Except the Kindle Fire loaded with South Park episodes he's getting for Christmas.)
And so, I emailed everyone in my address book that knows & loves Paul. And asked those people to spread the word to other people that know & love Paul. I requested that folks make or buy cards and ship them to me I could send Paul a big box of encouragement for his birthday.
And our people came through. I forgot to count the cards - but there are enough to keep him busy. Enough to make him blush. Grinning like a maniac, I watched him open the box via video chat. After he thumbed through all the return addresses, his first words were, "I am overwhelmed." He's going to open them all in one sitting on Sunday.
It's such a little thing.
But DUDE, have we not established that the little things are the biggest things?
and p.s. trust me, I know we are so lucky. I know we are blessed to be able to communicate as much as we can on this deployment. I have never-ending respect for the men and women serving our country at home and abroad. I just miss my man. Not too much longer, babe. We got this.
