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It's time to step away from the promises and live them

Nov-11-2005 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

Link to Full Article (Opinion)
By Michelle Cuthrell, The News-Miner

When my husband left for Iraq three months ago, the optimist inside typed a list in classic obsessive-compulsive style of all the positive aspects of deployment.

Just above positive aspect No. 3, "The toilet seat will be forever down," and positive aspect No. 2, "I can decorate the bedroom in my favorite bright colors without Matt mentioning for the fourth time, 'Oh, did a rainbow throw up on our bed?'" was positive aspect No. 1: "I will have more time to invest in relationships."

In the months before my husband deployed, I somehow abandoned my passion for spending time with others and made every excuse to spend every waking moment cuddling with the love of my life and ignoring the rest of mankind.

After all, we knew it wouldn't be long before we'd be snuggling at night with camouflage pillows and beagle puppies on separate sides of the world, and I didn't want to waste a second of the time we had together.

But when my husband left, even though I'd been endlessly devoting myself to the most important person in my life, I felt guilty about the time I hadn't invested talking to friends or really caring about others.

I told myself that now, with all my spouse-less free time, I would make time for outside personal relationships once again.

That was before I made a list of all my goals for my husband-less home-front deployment tour. [...]


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