the important thing

hmm...
what?

is it: being able to maintain without killing your spouse as you prepare for an overseas tour of duty?

is it: being able to get the kids dressed, fed, off to school without loosing my job because we are late EVERY day while he watches MTV Classic to wake up?

is it: finding homes for kittens, kittens, kittens-EVERYWHERE?

is it: sneaking venti toffee nut lattes?

is it: making list after list of what needs to be done before the first round of movers comes on JUNE 18th?!!

is it: staring at said list and freaking because "Holy Crap-we have a ton to do?!"

is it: starting with the random part of the list because I'm secretly terrified that we won't be able to get any of it done?

is it: standing my ground when Team Leader name calls and "WHOA!" makes me mad!?!

OR

is it: getting past how mad I am, maybe talking to him today, and reflecting on all the soldiers we've lost this year-every year-since we became a country...

A few years ago, my teammate and I had Team Leader come into her Kindergarten classroom to talk to our kiddos about Memorial Day. He came in uniform and brought plenty of cammo make-up. He also forgot to take out his dummie weapons before he brought in his kit bag and a nasty parent went running to my principal. (He's not always the sharpest pencil in the box, my Team Leader, but hey his job isn't in an elementary school!) Anyhoo...He came, spoke, and covered each of the 40 Kindergartners with cammo paint. It was excellent, and, when the day was done each of those kids could share 4 points about Memorial Day!

Teachable moment success!Those same kids are in 9th grade this year. I wonder if they remember that Memorial Day lesson? With everything going on in the world today, and now as we currently live in a military community, I'm really surprised by what is considered important.

Maybe the important things for me this weekend are:

accepting that Team Leader is capable of being a HORSE'S ASS...
recognizing that I married him knowing some of these flaws were maybe a little more than flaws...
allowing for the possibility that he really has adult onset ADHD and isn't able to think before he speaks...
understanding that I'm not the first military spouse (who has spent her entire marriage pretending she wasn't) who has moved overseas at an inconvenient time...
knowing I am a spazz when pushed into a corner...

walking away from the corner, taking a deep breath, digging into this list, and, remembering to stop and appreciate everything that our servicemen and women have sacrificed for our country and will continue to sacrifice for this country. This isn't about blind support for this war, or, believing we were blindly led into a disaster of a war, this is about remembering that sometimes we loose. We loose and we have to remember WHO is doing the job WE don't want to do.

We have to thank them. We have to remember them. We have to honor them.

If you are reading this, please check my link for "anysoldier" and do something. Make Memorial Day more than a weekend of sales, or vacation, or clean-up, or even fighting with your significant other. Instead, give Memorial Day meaning again, that's the important thing.

hugs and love all,
essie