• pirate
    I was raised a military brat. You learn to recognize things to appreciate, since everything is symbolic, from colors to lines to shapes to the absence of anything. Traveling around the world, you create a bond with everywhere and no where simultaneously, and never. You have lifelong friends made in an instant, that you never get to see again. Sounds tough, but you grow cold to growing cold. You learn to live in the moment as if it were forever and have the greatest of times with the greatest of people. You see memorable traits in others, making it easier to see those desirables in yourself.
    cool
    And then you leave them. And it hurts so much. The pain lasts a shorter time as life goes on, but never gets less sharp. For me, one day in Germany, I took the bus home and chatted with a 81 year old woman, impressed with her age alone. The simple band on her finger led me to believe she was married, and it turns out she wasn't. Her husband had passed 5 years before.
    sad
    Her husband of 66 years.

    eek
    Her story started when she met the man about a decade her senior when she was 15, and he immediately dropped his bachelor lifestyle and claimed her as his own and dedicated his life to his family. Working hard all over the world, coming home, and never straying. Many children came out of this love, and he passed happily in his sleep one night. She believes it was so as not to cause her suffering through his own.
    4laugh
    Hearing this story, and seeing this elderly woman coming back from reading to kids at the library, happy, instilled in me a solid belief that no matter what, the toughest distance is time. With proper attitude, the places that matter are the ones that you coexist in. I see that military families have so much honor, where the men and women of service to the country leave thier families home for years at a time to fight for honor, and deserve to come back to happy arms. Just becuase they came back alive.
    blaugh
    More and more, I see those left behind "shopping around" and those deployed exploiting a fictiscious "it doesn't count in another country" rule. Those deserve a punishment of a pain that never goes away, and reminds them of the sanctity of family. I respect those who can carry out love like a flag, and plant it on crests of mountians worldwide, proclaiming affection.
    rofl
    You don't need thier presence so much as you need them in your heart. My girlfriend and I are states away, but I believe the next street would be too far. We have to fight hard to not go crazy, missing each other like we do. But we know we have to contend with life if we expect it to deliver us what we want, and we want each other. It will possibly be years before we gt to live together, but our love is strong, and all we're doing is living out these days until we get to wake up, turn over, and begin our days with a kiss.
    heart
    If I'm willing to wade through lava, stand up to an invading army, or stop the moon...can't I wait some time, and fight hard to prepare a good life for my future wife and kids? I certainly know so.