Sometimes outsiders do get it.

I’ve often lamented that the general public just doesn’t understand military life. They don’t understand the pressures of deployment. They don’t comprehend that our entire lives revolve around the military’s needs. They don’t realize that the most important days of our lives, births, weddings and even funerals can be overshadowed and altered by the military’s plans for our soldier husbands.

This photographer gets it.

I heart Pinterest.

But it is killing my work routine.

I’ve long found that the beauty of working at home is that you can take an eight-hour work day and squish it into about five if you really concentrate – four if you let your toddler veg out in front of the “Wonder Pets” on repeat mode for at least two episodes.

About 48 hours into the deployment, Murphy’s Law supplanted itself into my friend’s life. Her husband had been gone about two days when the pain in her hips got so bad that she scheduled an MRI. 

The tech examined her hips, searching for the source of the pain and found a “thing” on her spine instead. Docs called and demanded she return to the hospital, immediately, for another look.

Four MRIs later, she was told her spinal cord was sitting outside of its protective shell and completely exposed. This is not good.

On Monday, it seemed everyone noticed us.

It was Memorial Day and my friends’ Facebook pages were filled with patriotic messages. There were signs up in retailers. Strangers and friends alike thanked my husband for his service.

It was nice. And the sentiment was genuine. But I can’t help but think, there was so much they were missing.