Perspective

Today is a bit of an un-fun post. Did some interesting things over the weekend, but that's not today's topic. We'll save that for another day.

I'm not a big fan of politics. I don't particularly side with either party (although some friends who get my 'shared items' from my RSS reader may beg to differ). As a result, I'll try to keep this non-political.

I just don't understand the war. I don't get it. What the hell is the point? I've never been in favor of it. My take is that we have enough issues here at home, that our resources would be better spent fixing ourselves up before we try to help the world.

Why do I bring this up?

Well, today, my running buddy's husband deploys to Iraq.

They've been married a month. A month. They never get a chance to spend any time together as it is.

The guy is awesome. He can fly helicopters. That right there is awesomeness. I suppose his skills are part of the reason of him going.

But that just sucks.

He's a good guy. I first met him a few years ago. Our place flooded due to some hurricane remnants. He was literally the first one at the door. I had never met him, yet there he was, the first knock. He was in town to visit his future wife, and he spent the day cleaning up our mess.


I may bitch about my ITBS or tendonitis. I may hate my job. Our economy is going to hell. Yet, all of that is just peanuts compared to what he's doing. He's leaving his wife, his family, his friends, just to do his job. His job.

Makes me realize that I need to keep things in perspective.

And yet, he's been lucky. It's his first deployment. The families that do it over and over, 3, 4 times. Wow.

That doesn't make it easier, of course. Just trying to keep it in perspective.

We had a "we'll see you when you get back" dinner for him on Sunday. At the end, he handled it all super well, and was happily consoling those that needed it.

I don't know. The whole thing just totally sucks. I think all of the men and women overseas should come home. Today. Right now.

Perhaps I don't understand the big picture, but I think that area has always been unstable, and will remain to be whenever we get the hell out of there. But, I'm digressing..

Due to logistics and where each of us live, I haven't had the opportunity to get to know him as well as I'd like. I enjoy spending time with him, and I hope I get to spend more with him once he gets back.

So, in summary. This really sucks. He's a great guy, and this really blows.

Sigh. And this isn't even the end of it. There's another deployment coming up that I can't even bring myself to talk about much yet. Another day.


J.K. - Be safe. We'll see you when you get back, and we'll write in the meantime. We're all thinking about you.