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...