I live with the fear and worry of losing my husband. As an Army soldier, he has trained to put his life on the line. And I know that he can handle himself in a fight. Having gone through two deployments to Iraq already, you would think that I would stop worrying and fearing for him. But I still do. He deploys again in the fall. I'm already afraid.
He'll not only be leaving me behind; he'll also be leaving his son behind. His son will be a few months shy of two years old when he leaves. My husband won't be here for his son's birthday again. He's already missed his son's first birthday because he was in Louisiana for training.
As his unit gears up for deployment I start imagining the worst. And in one of my imaginings, my husband was dead and I wrote his eulogy. By the time I got home and was able to write it down all I remembered was two paragraphs, which follow:
It's heard and seen everywhere, the saying "Freedom isn't Free." Well, I'd have to say no duh. If freedom was free then we wouldn't need the services of our military forces. And we wouldn't realize just how precious our freedom really is.
Some say that a soldier's death doesn't meaning. I'd have to say they are wrong. Those who died left behind husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons. They died with honour and meaning because they said that they would hold the line in the sand. The soldier joins because he loves his country. He says "I will die for you."
