In 1997…

My high school boyfriend signed up for a visit with an ARMY recruiter on the promise that he’d get a free pair of ARMY socks. The recruiter came, he didn’t enlist, and he didn’t even get the socks.

In 1999…

Barely 19 years old, a year into college, newly engaged, and anxious to make grown up decisions, we went together to the recruiter’s office where he enlisted like he’d wanted to all along. A few weeks later, I took my fiancé to catch the bus that would take him to basic training. He served. I stayed. He came home 6 months later.

In 2003…

With our 5 week old baby in tow, I dropped my husband at the Reserve center where he reported for the orders that took him to the Middle East. He served. I stayed. He came home 14 months later.

In 2008…

We sat in front of the computer with our 2 year old and 5 year old daughters and watched the Elmo deployment video in preparation for a stateside deployment. He served. I stayed. He came home 27 months later.

In 2011..

Despite a sense of duty that I’ll never be able to describe, he chose not to re-enlist. Our girls were ill, I questioned my ability to go it alone again, and he couldn’t imagine missing another moment. So after 12 years of service, two big deployments, and countless weekends, weeks, months, trainings, and responsibilities- we stayed home together.

Sometimes the only way to tell the story is with bullet points and dates like these, but here is the truth- a lot of life was lived while he served and I stayed and not every military family gets to end at home together.

He’s uncomfortable with the attention, even now.

He says previous generations of veterans are the ones who deserve the honor, but I’ll always believe that all veterans are worthy of a nod. (But sarge, your ARMY photos were taken on a film camera and sent away for developing. That makes you the previous generation.)

So hey there husband, I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you for serving even when, and especially when, the sacrifice was great. I’m so grateful you came back home and even more grateful that we’ve stayed here together. And I agree that it was a total ripoff that you never got those free ARMY socks.

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