Yes, this is my life

When I was married to an active duty Marine I was never "moto". I never thought we did anything so impressive. We got the comfort of our base housing and regular income while the Marines were off eating sand in an undisclosed location. They were the ones who really sacrificed. Now looking back I know the wives endured their own and unique struggles. I know that each of you are dealing with issues that most can't understand. I appreciate your part in service to our country. You hold the family together faithfully. You have babies alone. You make hard choices with little to no input while your spouse is gone. Communication sucks a lot of the time. You have to worry about matters at home and abroad. You have to learn to juggle parenting, and career, or school alone. We learned to not complain and cried ourselves to sleep at night....if we had time to sleep! We learned what long distance relationships really meant. We were told not to bother our Marines abroad with too many ...

On Halloween morning my dad was awoken to his neighbor pounding on his door telling him the building was on fire. She had fallen asleep with a candle lit and it somehow caught the entire structure on fire. He made it out with nothing but the pajamas he was wearing. All was lost. He had a stroke 6 years ago and it left him paralyzed. Luckily about 2 weeks before the fire he moved from the second floor of his apartment building to the ground floor. Had he still lived up the steps he would not have been able to escape the blaze. He was able to get out but not without some minor injuries due to his paralysis. He's now staying with my sister...who does not have space but we made it work. I bought him new clothing and my sister replaced his medication and his immediate needs have been met between us. She took him back to his burned building yesterday and he was only concerned and sad about two items lost. My late husband's watch and his father's burial flag. I had forgotten...

Since getting into a committed relationship with Sean, the idea of marriage has been on my mind. I mean, we are engaged and are completely content this way. Our relationship has been relaxed and natural. We're not in a rush. We've both been married. Our kids are adults or nearing adulthood. We're together by choice. It's a good place. However, the marriage issue is something that could be a reality on the horizon so I have considered it. And...it's tricky. At first I thought well who would I eventually be buried with? ...but then I remembered I don't even believe that you have to go to a graveside to talk to your dead loved one. I'm concerned about where my soul goes not my body. So, I satisfied that point. Then I thought "when I get to heaven, what then? How do you pick which husband you want to spend eternity with? Does God pick for you?" And that's going to hurt someone. That's no heaven in my eyes. I did think for days abou...

https://youtu.be/Kb24RrHIbFk My teenage son introduced me to this song yesterday. I'm sorry that I am not familiar with your other work but this song had me in tears. Why? Four years ago my husband and the father of my children took his life in my presence, as our kids slept just feet away. In the past four years I've become an advocate for suicide prevention. This one song eclipses any work I could ever do in keeping people alive. You've taken a subject so close to our hearts and took a stand. It reminds me of the work of Tupac. You could have sang about anything, but you chose to help and I cannot thank you enough. My son and I were able to talk about his dads suicide, how his head was racing with the same confusion and abandonment anger and pain as the subject in your song. It helped us connect and I'm positive it will help others too. From one human being to another THANK GOD FOR YOU and this song. You will save lives. You may never meet them or know their name...

The recent sexual assault awareness campaign #MeToo encourages women to speak out. I've shared my personal story before but will again so other women may be empowered to take the control back from their attackers. Fear and silence only allow them to continue their dominance over your life and possibly others. My story is not about a random attack from a stranger in a dark alley. I knew them. Two were related to me by marriage. One ended up being a long term boyfriend through two years of my teens. The first time I was sexually abused I was about 7. It was my step father's brother, my uncle. In school they told us to tell our parents if anything ever happened. I did. They asked him. He denied it and nothing ever happened. I was forced to see him at family functions and the likes the rest of my childhood and into my 20s. He died 4 years ago. I wasn't sad. I felt relief. I knew he'd molested his own daughter before me and it wasn't until he divorced his wife and sh...

Have you ever had a dream so vivid and so terrifying it took a while after you woke up to convince yourself it didn't actually happen? At 4:12 am I woke in a panic. I felt my body for wounds and the moisture I first thought was blood from being shot was actually sweat that had soaked the length of my back. I jumped our of bed to make sure I could still walk. In my dream I was in an open court yard of a structure, Two stories surrounding me. It reminded me of the pool area from the show Melrose Place. A show I watched 20 years ago. Weird but that's what I thought. I was walking toward one side of the apartment or motel...what ever it was... When suddenly a huge commotion came on all side of me. Doors banging open and swat team members coming out of all the dark corners. I looked up to the second floor balcony and literally saw bullets flying through the air. I heard many loud voices screaming "Freeze! HANDS UP!" I knew I had to get myself out of thecross fire. I ...

Hate crimes are unconstitutional. (As if you needed to refer to the legalities of hate!) The national anthem is a representation of our Constitution and kneeling during the playing is a law abiders method of pointing out that our Constitution is being abused. It is not a reflection of the kneelers disdain for our country or our laws. It's the opposite. A silent protest to lives lost and cruel liberties taken against citizens who live for that constitution. It's a serious epidemic in this country. Comparing the act to servicemembers dying in action or fighting for the county is a bad way to go. They are DOING THE EXACT SAME THING but in different approaches. They are both trying to protect what they know to be true in the only way they know how. More people have died this year on our soil because they were black than because they were American fighting in a war zone. The two should never be compared. Apples and oranges. I'm asked a lot because I'm a widow of a Marine. H...