Today is Veterans Day.
I’ve seen a lot of things today about bravery, courage, freedom, saluting to those in service, but what I feel doesn’t quite match those feelings. This military child life of mine is equivalent of having everyone I love more than they know tied to service through one channel or another.
Having someone you love deployed is like walking around with a piece of your soul missing. Sometimes you’ll have the phenomenon known as the phantom effect, but for the most part you know outside of your core walking around, braving danger, and covered in 60 pounds or more of body armor is a piece of your very soul. The closer the person is to you, the bigger the piece, and now that my best friend is facing deployment you’d think a pretty good sized chunk would be crumbling away, but the truth is that piece hasn’t been with me since the moment I met Alex. (Check back again when my father is deployed in the first “bucket” of 2011.)
To the men and women in the Armed Forces: Thank you for your service.
With Only Love,
Jess
