I'm having a weird moment of conflicting feelings: Monday is the last day I can send mail down to my husband in Iraq. Those of you who've been following me for the past year know that I write my husband as frequently as possible. I am about to send letter #180 on Monday -- which comes to roughly one letter every other day -- and then we'll be done. In a weird sense, I am sad to see the end of letter writing.
My husband always teases me that I talk too much when he's trying to go to sleep. I've never been able to stop my mind from spinning, so marriage was so exciting for me: I finally had someone to talk to death so I could try to fall asleep. I substituted letter writing for talking this year; I would write my letters right before bed to try to clear my head. What am I going to do for the next two months?
I can't believe this deadline is making me sad; the last day to send mail means they're coming home soon! But the feeling is bittersweet, because I've really enjoyed writing letters this year. I've enjoyed finding good articles and funny cartoons and romantic cards to send. I've enjoyed yammering on about dumb crap that happens at work or Matrix: Revolutions (Heh, look what I found: Did you know there are people who really believe in that stuff?) I've enjoyed making my husband get more mail than anyone in his platoon.
Red 6's fiancee leaves for Iraq next. I guess I'll have to concentrate my efforts on her now.
Posted by Sarah at January 7, 2005 01:40 PMDon't stop writing the letters. Just give them to him when he returns and let him read them then.
Posted by: John at January 7, 2005 02:15 PMWelll, if it is not too (ahem) personal, you could always post here. Of course, I see your delimma though. You could get s pen-pal over in the sandbox too.
Posted by: mdmhvonpa at January 7, 2005 04:02 PMI found myself in the same position as you at the beginning of last year. I started a journal documenting all of my thoughts/feelings and found that it really helped. I also adopted some soldiers off of www.booksforsoldiers.com.
Posted by: Jamie at January 7, 2005 05:47 PMI was going to say what John said!
Posted by: Beth at January 7, 2005 05:54 PMDon't stop writing. Save them for later. If he doesn't want to read them, you will. I ran across some gardening diaries I kept in the 1970's and it made interesting reading for me. It was amazing how much I recalled of those days I had forgotten. Just a few lines of what had been planted when, what was blooming, what the weather was, would bring back a whole time of my life. When you get older those reminders will be a joy to you.
Posted by: Ruth H at January 7, 2005 10:23 PM