Light Bulbs

I went to a 4th of July performance in the park Sunday morning. It was nice. As soon as we got out of the car people were there to greet us and asked if we had family serving overseas. We got ribbons to wear to indicate that we did. Fuzz and I wore ours proudly.

A church choir sang songs. They invited all those who served past and present to come up and stand alongside their flag. A man who was in Iraq as a doctor in 2004-2005 spoke about his experiences, and then his wife got up to speak about hers while he was away. I loved that they included her sentiments. I think light bulbs went off in many people's heads that day as to what a spouse who's left behind goes through. I know that our spouses are the ones actually doing the work over there, but that doesn't mean it's easy being the one who waits.
One of the things that the wife spoke about was her feeling of relief after he left for the deployment. I thought I was crazy to feel that, and I thought many people would think I was crazy when I wrote about it. But I'm clearly not the only one.

It was an emotional day, but I'm so happy I went. Finally in my life, the patriotic holidays actually mean something to me other than just a day to have fun. I get it.