My husband has been home from Iraq for three years. Three years. It's embarrassing to type that. I've had him to myself for three years. Not by choice, of course, but what can you say? "I promise he volunteered to go and traded orders with a guy for a case of beer, but it fell through. I swear we haven't been ducking it; he even changed branches so he'd be able to go back." But it still sounds incredible that he's been home so long.

I wrote today at SpouseBUZZ that I can't remember my husband's homecoming day. I was camped out in my archives, trying desperately to remember what I was doing before he got home, but I have no idea. I do know what I was feeling though, since I carried on Tim's tradition and gave a peek at the end to CaliValleyGirl.

Reading that hurts a little though, because I miss that feeling.

I love having my husband home. I need to have my husband home if we're ever going to successfully have a baby. But three years on, I miss the deployment feelings. I miss the sense of connectedness, of purpose, of conviction. It probably sounds strange, but I miss the feeling of sacrifice, of knowing that I've given up being with someone I love for the good of our country. Honestly, for me, the deployment feeling hurts, but it's a good hurt, a deep and satisfying pain. And I haven't felt it in three years. I feel ashamed that I've lived too ordinary of a life for three years.

I'm ready to do it again. I knew it was coming, and I was ready for it, waiting for it, starting to yearn for it. My husband finished his language class and was waiting for his assignment. He was worried that he might get sent to Iraq even though he'd studied Farsi and wanted to go to Afghanistan.

So we never imagined the assignment he got: Rear D.

For civilian readers, the Rear Detachment is the one guy the unit leaves behind to man the phones and take care of the homefront. He's the liason between the deployed unit and the families. He works his butt off back at home to take care of unit affairs.

My husband is being left behind while his unit deploys.

One would think that this would be welcomed news for the Rear D family. If my husband had only been home 12 months since his deployment, I might enjoy this assignment a little too. But three years later, I can't believe this is what we'll be doing. I can't believe my husband doesn't get to do what he's longed to do since the day he came home -- go back and help some more -- and I can't believe I don't get to satisfy my unnatural craving for deployment feelings.

We're just so stunned that this is the hand we've been dealt.

Some guys have already spent enough time in Iraq to last them a lifetime. When it's all said and done, my husband will have been home for more than four years before he finally gets his chance to go again and do what he loves.

Despite our best efforts, we're watching history pass us by.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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My husband encouraged me to watch the new McCain campaign video this morning. I hadn't watched it because, well, I already know I'm voting for him. But I did watch it, and I loved it. It was beautiful and inspiring. Ann Althouse dissects the commercial here.

Also, what is the deal about this McCain "flipping out" thing? Seriously, talking forcefully to a reporter is called losing your cool? These oversensitive people should have a conversation with my husband; just yesterday he said that a certain Army wife author should be "set on fire and pushed down the stairs." And that's a gentle insult coming from him. We were laughing that we wish McCain would flip out, really let someone have it. He said he wants a president who doesn't suffer fools.

We watched Annie Hall last night and kept pausing it and trying to put it in it's social context. My husband noted that it came out four years after McCain was released from Hanoi. While it's a decent enough and quirky movie, can you imagine seeing it after being tortured for five years? These are people's problems? This won Best Picture, a show about people who are unhappy dating each other? I don't know how you go back to being a normal person after being a POW. How long does it take before the little things in life start bugging you again? I wonder when you feel normal enough again to complain about the pseudo-intellectual talking loudly in line at the movies. When does the just-happy-to-be-alive feeling wear off?

Posted by: Sarah at 03:38 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Regarding the "gentle insult..." Have your husband and Chuck Z met? Sounds like they would be very sympatico. LOL!

Posted by: FbL at March 08, 2008 05:02 AM (rW1/8)

2 FbL -- I have wanted to get my husband and Chuck Z in a room together for years I think it'd be a riot.

Posted by: Sarah at March 08, 2008 05:52 AM (TWet1)

3 I wish that, along with his heroic time as a POW, that he and Cindy's adoption of a orphan in Bangladesh would also be publicized. I think these are pretty good testaments to his character.

Posted by: Nicole at March 08, 2008 03:25 PM (YHVU/)

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Angie posted a link about large families (4+ kids). I knew I shouldn't read it, I just knew it. But I went anyway. Ouch, does it hurt to read comment after comment from people who had all of these accidental kids. Pregnant while on birth control, pregnant after having tubes tied (!), etc. It's so hard to hear about all these surprises when we'd give anything to get the one mega-planned-for baby we've been working on for 13 months.

I have begun to feel discouraged again. It's been three months since the miscarriage and, despite the fact that friends and family all assured me I'd be pregnant again by now, no such luck. And I'm starting to wish that I just had someone to go through this with me. I know several people who had trouble getting pregnant, but, happily for them, they have all gone on to start families. They completely understand what I'm going through, but since they're all past that stage of their lives, it's not the same thing; they know that life eventually works out for them, but I don't have that guarantee yet. So while it's reassuring to me that everyone has gone on to have a baby, either by adoption or IVF, I don't know anyone in the same situation as I am right now: trying unsuccessfully to have her first child. Do any of you readers know of someone currently going through this stage of her life? I'd really like to find a comrade in this struggle.

Because it's rough knowing that people who got pregnant five months after I started trying are getting ready to give birth...

Posted by: Sarah at 01:20 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 I wish so much I could gift this curse of fertility to you. You're right, it just doesn't seem fair. Can't tell you how often I've thought of this very subject. I think I can hook you up with some in your same situation. Gimme a couple of days. I have to tell you I gave a mid-wife a good laugh today. I asked at my appointment if I could get my tubes tied even if my husband had a vasectomy. She told me to just trust the vasectomy. I laughed and said no way! Not with our luck. I want to make sure I'm not having anymore babies!!! I hope your smiling a little, my friend I'm sending you one of my great big "Fertile Myrtle" hugs right now.

Posted by: Angie at March 07, 2008 02:49 PM (BJEkk)

2 The last time you posted about this, it made me think of my good college friend who was recovering from her third miscarriage. I think, at that point, that she and her husband had been trying to achieve (and sustain) a pregnancy for about 14 months. I just found out yesterday that she's 16 weeks pregnant and had ultrasound pictures to show. She waited to announce this one because she lost her first pregnancy at 14 weeks. Although I'm not at the point of being ready for motherhood, she sure gives me lots of hope!

Posted by: Nicole at March 07, 2008 02:54 PM (YHVU/)

3 Dammit. I'd give you my (theoretically) fertile self if I could. *hugs*

Posted by: FbL at March 07, 2008 08:29 PM (rW1/8)

4 Some of our dearest friends at church have been trying to have another child since I was in Afghanistan. I missed meeting them the first Sunday I was back because she had just miscarried. She's now watched no less than 8 people in the church--including people who didn't want one, and a teenager, and so forth--go on to have babies in the last year and a half (ours was born a week and a half ago), and she has said before that it's really hard not to be a little bitter about it. Every time I see her, my own (considerable) joy is tempered quite a bit because she is such a wonderful mother to her 3-year-old daughter and it's a really big deal to them. I can't say anything that hasn't been said. We've been married for 7 and a half years, but only started trying right before I deployed, and even so it took 6 or 7 months after I got back before we "caught." The worst part of the deployment for me was when she miscarried just a month after I mobilized to go over; I was stuck in TX, unable to help or even just hold her hand... Sig

Posted by: Sig at March 08, 2008 07:39 AM (7uphd)

5 All I can say is GOOD LUCK. I can't imagine how you are feeling, I'm way older than worrying about becoming, or not becoming, pregnant. I know the blessings of motherhood and family and I wish it for you. Today I am in San Antonio celebrating with my children and grandchildren the graduation of one of my grandsons from basic training at Lackland AFB. we are so proud and happy for him. It took him a while to decide on a path in life. His was an honor flight and a great incentive to do even better.

Posted by: Ruth H at March 08, 2008 08:57 AM (caBZ5)

6 I'm thinking about you!

Posted by: Allison at March 08, 2008 10:36 AM (xElwl)

7 I remember how absolutely alone I felt when I was going through infertility issues. (it took 5 years to have our first!). It seemed as if everyone was pregnant around me. I wish I knew someone at the same stage now, I wish I had known someone at the same stage I was 10 years ago... you're right, it would have helped. I hope you can find a comrade in this struggle.

Posted by: TripleE at March 08, 2008 03:06 PM (OWlhq)

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Betsy Newmark quotes Michael Gerson today about anti-Americanism and how it's not all Bush's fault. It certainly is not. I lived in France in 1998-99, and lots of people hated Americans; French, Swiss, Croatian, Norwegian, Canadian, Swedish, and Russian students hated us alike. The Croatian student hated us because of Bill Clinton, because his family was in danger during the air strikes in 1999. And that wasn't unilateral cowboy tactics; that was NATO. I also lived in Sweden in the summer of 2001, before 9/11. People hated Americans, namely for Kyoto that summer. I blogged about the riots in Goteborg during the EU summit, in which protesters carried paper mache Bush puppets and chanted "Go home, Bush." This was before 9/11, before Iraq, before any of these lame excuses that we hear these days about why Europe hates us. They just do. They have for a very long time. Iraq was just the frosting on the cake.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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My husband found this perfect video. This Cake song came out in 2001, but I swear it looks like it could've been written for the Obama movement.

Posted by: Sarah at 05:27 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 MmmmÂ…Cake. KindÂ’a scary how appropriate the song is for the Messiah.

Posted by: tim at March 07, 2008 03:59 AM (nno0f)

2 Wow.

Posted by: airforcewife at March 07, 2008 07:30 AM (mIbWn)

3 eek!

Posted by: prophet at March 07, 2008 07:44 AM (aavdh)

4 As soon as I saw the title of this post, I knew what song you were talking about....hadn't seen this video though, it is a good one

Posted by: Ann M. at March 07, 2008 02:53 PM (HFUBt)

5 I love that CD, it's excellent. *grin* and yes the song is very appropriate to O-ba-ma. Heh.

Posted by: Teresa at March 08, 2008 12:13 PM (rVIv9)

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I've been busy hanging out with Heather and trying to distract her in the last few days before her husband returns, so I haven't been on the computer much.

But read these uplifting thoughts from Subsunk about young people in Iraq rejecting terrorism...

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I actually managed to sneak in a little bit of knitting for myself lately. I am working on another DNA scarf.

And my buddy Heather shows up this week for her husband's homecoming ceremony (hooray!), so I have 110 squares for her Hand-Crafted Comfort.

Posted by: Sarah at 10:57 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Ooh! Ooh! Make one of these! http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/22/knit-gasmask-hat.html

Posted by: deskmerc at March 02, 2008 05:41 AM (Ho1gG)

2 Lovely scarf! I'm thinking about taking up knitting, something nice and quiet to do when the kids are asleep that would require me to put down the laptop... any good suggestions for a newbie? Books to look at or something simple?

Posted by: lea at March 02, 2008 03:38 PM (NJQf+)

3 Knitting is a wonderful hobby!! It's kinda rough to learn from a book, but it certainly can be done. If you're a feisty lady, you might like the book Stitch n Bitch My local library even carries it if you don't want to buy it. But it has lots of tips and a fun writing style. But really, any knitting book will do. But a book alone won't cut it; I cannot say how highly I recommend the website www.knittinghelp.com She has free videos for all sorts of techniques, beginner to advanced. If you sit with the book and the videos, I think you'd be able to figure it out. But you might be able to find a class locally for a decent price. My classes at Michaels were $15 for a two-hour session, in which you can learn all the basics. You might find something similar at a yarn store near you. Good luck, and let me know if you take up knitting!

Posted by: Sarah at March 02, 2008 03:57 PM (TWet1)

4 lea - warning - knitting is highly addictive. Sarah's projects got me started, and now I JUST CAN'T STOP. I've made socks for my entire immediate family, a scarf for the husband (he wants one of those DNA scarves now), a doll sweater, two cabled purses, and some various practice things. I might need a 12 step program.

Posted by: airforcewife at March 03, 2008 04:21 AM (mIbWn)

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My apologies to LGF for stealing his flying pig, but dang...

Angelina Jolie wrote approvingly about the progress in Iraq:

Today's humanitarian crisis in Iraq -- and the potential consequences for our national security -- are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of Middle East, won't explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?
...
As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.

(Via Insty, via Taranto)

Frank J wrote a funny post the other day about Obama called "My Solution to Iraq Is to Never Have Gone There." It was funny because it felt all too true; many people talk about fixing Iraq in the past tense, as if "we shouldn't be there in the first place" is an actual solution. So -- and I can't believe I'm typing this -- kudos to Angelina Jolie for dealing with the actual situation as it stands today and not wishing for some utopian non-invasion that doesn't exist. And kudos to her for reporting what she saw on the ground, despite the fact that (I'm guessing) it doesn't jibe with her preconceptions.

So, yeah, pigs fly.

Posted by: Sarah at 09:04 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I was just watching an old rerun of Law & Order, and the detective said that a suspect had an "arsenal registered in his name." Turns out he had five guns. An arsenal! Shoot, they should meet some of the people we know. One of my husband's buddies used his entire PCS weight allowance for ammunition. No joke. Five firearms is nothing.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:18 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Victor Davis Hanson rips on Europe in an interview:

JF: What is it that makes the U.S. and Europe so different from each other? From the outside, the two are often perceived as a monolithic unit: the West. Does this unity really exist, or are we talking about two separate worlds? Do you think the alliance between the U.S. and Europe is made to last, or is it no more than an illusion?

VDH: We have a common legacy, as the elections in France and Germany remind us. And we coalesce when faced by a common illiberal enemy — whether against the Soviet empire or radical Islam.

But after the fall of the Soviet Union, you diverged onto a secularized, affluent, leisured, socialist, and pacifist path, where in the pride and arrogance of the Enlightenment you were convinced you could make heaven on earth — and would demonize as retrograde anyone who begged to differ.

Now you are living with the results of your arrogance: while you brand the U.S. illiberal, it grows its population, diversifies and assimilates, and offers economic opportunity and jobs; although, for a time you’ve become wealthy — given your lack of defense spending, commercial unity, and protectionism — but only up to a point: soon the bill comes due as you age, face a demographic crisis, become imprisoned by secular appetites and ever growing entitlements. Once one insists on an equality of result, not one of mere opportunity, then, as Plato warned, there is no logical end to what the government will think up and the people will demand.

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John Hawkins scoffs at arm hair woes. Trust this hirsute chick, it can be a worry. Excessive hair anywhere is a nightmare. I lucked out and inherited my dad's genes, so I get to fuss with hairy knuckles, a lady mustache, and eyebrows that would make Oscar the Grouch cringe. And I do the best I can, but apparently the problem is bad enough that my husband's uncle gave me a mustache trimmer for Christmas this year. (Yeah, ouch. That's like getting punched in the stomach for Christmas.) So John Hawkins might not get it, but I do.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:29 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Wow. Husband's uncle highly presumptuous, to say the least and mildest possible. I share your pain. Recently caved and began having some strategic waxing and doing some tactical tweezing. Eeyaarrrggh.

Posted by: Anwyn at February 29, 2008 05:35 AM (uNpky)

2 I've got German ancestry. That means someone in our background mated with a bear. Seriously. My poor half-Russian kids. Ohhhh, the poor kids!!! Anyway, TWEEZIE! Best. Thing. Ever. It plucks the hairs and actually inhibits growth, so after about a year of using it, my hair is growing much more slowly and much lighter. Yay for damaged follicles!

Posted by: airforcewife at February 29, 2008 06:58 AM (mIbWn)

3 I'm right with you, AFW--I swear there's a bear in my heritage. I've got wiry hairs that sprout in places no woman should have hair! And all that hair grows fast, too. And sadly, my follicles don't seem to damage easily. *pout*

Posted by: FbL at February 29, 2008 02:40 PM (rW1/8)

4 My only real issue is my eyebrows. To make it more insulting flyboy has the most perfect eyebrows, nicely shaped, nice light coloring, and NO HAIR IN BETWEEN. Actually insulting was when he was honestly shocked that hair grows between the eyebrows and people pay to get rid of it. oh the shame. although your hair trimmer as a gift takes the cake!

Posted by: lea at February 29, 2008 04:00 PM (NJQf+)

5 This may be good news for you (or not!) but as we woman age, we lose alot of body hair. I can go a week easy without shaving my legs and no one would notice. Unfortunately, I think it all migrated to my nostrils. Just GROSS!

Posted by: Raging Mom at March 03, 2008 05:32 AM (l+Chn)

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The Girl sent me a depressing study called Still At Risk: What Students Don't Know, Even Now. Seventeen year olds were asked basic questions about history and literature; guess how they fared.

What I thought was quite interesting was that the questions the students did best on were the "I Have a Dream" speech and Uncle Tom's Cabin. So Black History Month is achieving its goals. But I think we need a White History Month to even things out, since only 74% of kids knew which century Columbus sailed to the New World and only 52% knew what the book 1984 was about (apparently 18% thought it was about time travel, backwards!) Kids don't know what JFK said in his speeches, but they know what MLK said.

My kids are going to have to read, at gunpoint if necessary.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:14 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 My kids (except the 5 year old, who can identify Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt (both), and the current President Bush know this stuff. Sonlight. Seriously. Even if you don't homeschool, the reading list is PRICELESS. All the books kids should read excepting Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables. And my girls and my boy love the list. Best thing we ever bought.

Posted by: airforcewife at February 29, 2008 07:00 AM (mIbWn)

2 Have you seen this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juOQhTuzDQ0 My 7 AND 5 year olds knew the answer to that question. How sad. What makes me the most upset is that she thinks it's cute...shouldn't she be embarrassed?

Posted by: Angie at February 29, 2008 11:06 AM (BJEkk)

3 I was watching something about this on the news the other night. And while I think it's sad that kids today don't know a lot of the stuff that I still remember from school, one guy pointed out that kids today don't need to know this stuff - they can just google it if need be. Today, education is aimed more at analyzing reading material rather than memorizing dates and names. He had a point, I think. But then again, kids should have at least a vague idea about when the Civil War occured.

Posted by: Erin at March 01, 2008 01:43 PM (y67l2)

4 Ronin loves learning about history and the presidents (especially the ones who have been assasinated--it's his obsession with death). Have you ever watched the cartoon Time Warp Trio? It's kind of fun

Posted by: Kate at March 03, 2008 01:10 PM (JIGe1)

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The husband and I just spent the last hour laughing hysterically at a website John Hawkins found: Stuff White People Like.

Ho
Ly
Crap

This is the most hilarious blog ever. It covers all the stuff I freaking hate (note: travelling / study abroad and making you feel bad about not going outside are just better-written versions of my hatred for travel and doing stuff).

Seriously, I can't even say which one is my favorite -- not having a TV, expensive sandwiches, The Daily Show, having two last names -- they're all spot on. This site captures perfectly all the douchy things that people do. I love it.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:29 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I've been seeing Subway commercials about how Jared has kept the weight off for ten years. Dang, there are kids out there who have never known a world without Jared.

Posted by: Sarah at 09:46 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 I just saw a subway commercial about that this morning! By the way, this is my first time visiting your blog. I like it! Your blog title takes me back to high school English - we read Stranger in a Strange Land. I assume you're a fan of it?

Posted by: Tootie at February 28, 2008 11:16 AM (e5c2s)

2 I actually got a sandwich at Subway for lunch, came home, got on the computer, and read your post...10 years of Jared? Wow.

Posted by: Nicole at February 28, 2008 09:01 PM (YHVU/)

3 Isnt it amazing? I was just thinking about that the other when I saw one of his commercials. What was the world like without Jared?

Posted by: lea at February 29, 2008 03:05 AM (NJQf+)

4 The best decision Jared ever made was stopping in a subway, wasnt it.

Posted by: Keri at February 29, 2008 05:15 AM (HXpRG)

5 Okay, I'm officially old. I was in college with Jared when he first started with the commercials--walked past his apartment everyday (he lived above a Subway store, IIRC).

Posted by: FbL at February 29, 2008 02:42 PM (rW1/8)

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Oh man, I just got laid off! It's a corporate decision to stop offering classes, so there's the end of the greatest job ever. I will really miss those knitting classes. It was fun while it lasted.

But how on earth will we ever live without the $900 I made last year? Heh.

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1 Awwww that sucks! With the way the system works you probably qualify for unemployment, LOL. I got laid off once and I made more on unemployment than I did working. No wonder there is a problem. Sad.

Posted by: Army Blogger Wife at February 28, 2008 04:58 PM (Y3JJK)

2 SAD!!! Funny thing, I had the same thought as ABW!

Posted by: Erin at March 01, 2008 01:45 PM (y67l2)

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I've decided it's Scare Sarah week on the internet. Parents seem to be posting horror stories about their kids in an effort to dissuade me from wanting them.

First it was Army Blogger Wife, compiling all the creatively bad things her daughter did.

Which reminded me of the time AWTM's kids got into plaster of paris while her washing machine was broken.

Then Pink Ninja took a ride on the garage door.

Then Erin told me on the phone that the honeymoon is over with Tucker and that she's frazzled and exhausted. She said all of this on the phone while she was planting spring flowers, because she didn't have enough time in the day in between Tucker's screaming to both talk to a friend and work in the garden.

Then today AWTM posted some Bill Cosby comedy about the maddening things kids do.

You guys are conspiring to freak me out, right? That's the awful thing about trying for more than a year to get pregnant: there's too much time to think about it! Time to think about whether you really want to sing Barney songs while cleaning an overflowed toilet. Or reprimand your son for playing with himself in public. Or pull your kid out of a grave.

This needs to happen quick before I lose my nerve...

Posted by: Sarah at 03:36 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Ya know Sarah, every time someone tells me "you will never guess what my kid did?" I say....is it as bad as falling into Grndas freshly dug grave? the answer is generally a horrifed look of no... I win every time. Pink Ninja pooped on the floor in front of company, cut her hair, broke both arms within months of one another leading me to have a discussion with social services as well.... the list goes on and on.... Parenthood, is not for wussies.... indeed

Posted by: awtm at February 28, 2008 04:07 AM (TEH0y)

2 and did anyone mention ''almost drownings''? I promise you, it's all nessecary, to build you up, for the parenting of teenagers....I also promise it's worth every minute, of laughter, tears, and fears!

Posted by: debe at February 28, 2008 05:48 AM (Hn47u)

3 Think of it this way... they don't start out like that. You get to work your way up to it gradually. You adjust as they get older and get to work through each thing as it comes along. While you're pregnant, you figure out (as you get near the 9 month mark) that you can live without much sleep. This helps when the baby comes along and wants to be fed several times a night and keeps you awake all day too. Cat naps... Then they start to roll, then crawl, then walk, then talk, then... well you get the idea. Each thing is a new adventure. If kids didn't do stuff like that - you would start to wonder what was wrong with them. LOL. But remember - none of these kids started out doing the fun and fascinating things you are reading about, so relax a bit. You'll be able to handle it when the time comes.

Posted by: Teresa at February 28, 2008 06:43 AM (rVIv9)

4 You forgot to mention that they crap all the way UP THEIR BACKS when they are infants. Sound impossible? Oh, just you wait. Physics are nothing when baby crap comes into play. Oh, and just for an update, I thought I was going to have to run to the ER yesterday when my son jumped off the kitchen counter and tried to do a ninja kick landing. He ended up with a HUGE goose egg on the part of his head that is bald. So we couldn't hide it. And we had Little Gym, so everyone got to admire it.

Posted by: airforcewife at February 28, 2008 09:16 AM (mIbWn)

5 Oh it's definitely not for the faint of heart, but it is fun, frustrating, rewarding, inspiring and so much more! Once they come out kicking and screaming you will adapt super fast and soon you will be a pro.....and a little grayer! All the good things far outweigh all the not so good things that they do.

Posted by: Army Blogger Wife at February 28, 2008 09:28 AM (Y3JJK)

6 LOL I am really enjoying this post and comments . Theresa is right, you do work up to it. Here's two off the top of my head: last winter, Ronin ate something blue, and we never figured out what, but Jim insisted we go to the emergency room. We got a stern brochure about locking up the chemicals in your cabinets. And, with the exception of the "episode" last week, every time that Ronin has thrown up in his short 5 1/2 years of life, it has been all down the front of me

Posted by: Kate at February 28, 2008 02:17 PM (576n8)

7 Other commenter was right, you kinda get eased into it. But it doesnt always make you feel anybetter at the time. But I'm probably a bad person to ask about this at the moment. Our house is being invaded by the terrible threes. Lets hope we make it to four.

Posted by: Lea at February 29, 2008 03:08 AM (NJQf+)

8 It's still totally worth it...

Posted by: Erin at March 01, 2008 01:46 PM (y67l2)

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Last night we watched The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. One Rotten Tomatoes reviewer said it was like "watching a book on tape." If that seems like your bag, this is the movie for you. I really enjoyed it, but I don't mind things that take their sweet time. I thought it was lovely and thoughtprovoking.

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Yep, we're invested.

Sitting on a bunk in Bravo Company's outpost, Staff Sgt. Corey Hollister noted the irony that, even as the debate in America remained bizarrely unaffected by the reality around him, "It's really military personnel and their families who don't want [the Army] to leave Iraq."

My husband is frustrated that he could've spent six months learning Farsi only to deploy to Iraq (where no one speaks Farsi). He would've rather learned Arabic then. He wants to be able to communicate with the people, wants to read as many books as he can about Sunnis and Shiites and Arab culture, wants to get another chance to participate in this war. Not for the killing but for the cultural cross-pollination.

And indeed, there's cross-pollination:

Officers in the Grand Army of the Tigris, as one of its senior officers calls the American force, dine with local elders at "goat grabs," greet them with "man-kisses," and routinely punctuate their own conversations with the casual "insha'allah." The vernacular has even followed the Army home: In the halls of the Pentagon, where nearly every Army officer has served at least two tours in Iraq, officers ask whether this or that official has "wasta"—Iraqi shorthand for "influence" or "pull," though with a slightly more corrupt tinge.

It's the military families that don't want to leave Iraq because they are the ones who've become invested. They're the ones who are getting steeped in this culture and looking for ways to make it compatible with ours. And they're the ones who understand the little picture as well as the big one.

My husband has always said that Iraq has way more than a problem between Sunnis and Shiites, because even in all-Shiite villages, there are still feuds. Between this group and that, this clan and that, this cousin's branch and that, this side of the street and that. Put two Iraqis in a room together, and they'll find something to divide them. So I got a kick out of this:

This much was evident at a gathering of 20 local elders, where a young captain named Palmer Phillips cajoled and corralled sheiks three times his age. "Hey," Phillips admonished the feuding tribal leaders, "There can't be anymore of this Dulaimi versus Assawi action going on."

The soldiers on the ground are working with the nuances and getting physically and emotionally invested in the outcome. Really, really invested. And they don't want to fail. But most of all they don't want to be sent home before they have a chance to succeed.

Read the whole article.

UPDATE:

Also read Gordon Alanko's Reconstructing Relationships. "Juggling kittens" indeed.

Posted by: Sarah at 05:49 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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My husband and I both want a boy. We want a boy really badly. We always have imagined ourselves with a son. And so we laugh that when we finally, finally get pregnant again someday, we will probably definitely have a girl. Such has been our humbling experience with conception woes.

But no matter how much I'd like to have a boy, now that we've worked so hard to have a baby, any baby, this article -- "Sexual Satisfaction: Abortion and your right to accurate sex selection" -- makes me sick. There are so many people out there who would give anything to have a baby, boy or girl, and others are aborting because some stick they peed on gave them pink instead of blue? Some dubiously accurate stick at that? And then they're suing the company because they had a girl instead of a boy.

People never cease to horrify me.

Posted by: Sarah at 05:34 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I spent four hours today sewing toes to feet and making up the monkey face. He's done, and he's pretty cute. Too bad he's not going to fetch $200.

Remind me to never knit stuffed animals for strangers.

Posted by: Sarah at 10:06 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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