My plans for this week were perfect until my husband's deployment kept getting moved forward. Once that happened, I had to make a very unusual and difficult choice: Do you accept an invitation to the White House on the day your husband is supposed to deploy? Any other invitation in the world, you obviously turn down. But the White House? That's big. That gives you pause.

I asked around, and the general consensus was that other wives would not go to the White House. But I still had to decide for myself. I had a talk with my husband about my choice, and what he said blew my mind. He said, "The White House is the White House, and obviously that's a big deal. But what I think is really important is that you go spend time with your friends, people who love you. You don't have anyone here in town to take care of you while I'm gone, and when else are you going to get the chance to be with your good friends? If they're coming in from all over the country, then you need to go be with people who care about you."

And he was right.

It was so exciting to be able to take this photo on Tuesday:

But it honestly means so much more to me to have taken this one:

I spent the day surrounded by people who lift my spirits, who make me happy, and who grok what I am going through. They cracked me up and helped me forget my sorrow. And they reminded me of how lucky I am to have them in my life.

My husband was right: I really did need this.

I raced home right after the event and had six hours to spend with my husband before I dropped him off at his unit headquarters to deploy. And we felt good, no tears at all. Just a supplication for me to have "Spartan courage" and for him to "come back with his shield or on it." A quick kiss goodbye, and that was that.

And so the deployment begins.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:12 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Holy Moly! What a choice. But what a day it must have been. Did you get to meet the President?

Posted by: Mare at May 07, 2008 12:03 PM (EI19G)

2 Nah, I didn't get to meet him; I was just one invitee out of about 1400. But it was still super-cool to be invited. I did get to meet SecDef Gates and GEN Cody though!

Posted by: Sarah at May 07, 2008 01:15 PM (TWet1)

3 I knew you and AWTM must be doing something special. Tough decision but you got to see him off so to me there wasn't really a big decision to make, right?

Posted by: Heidi at May 07, 2008 03:50 PM (ShL/Y)

4 Sarah - Good for you! And for your husband. You two totally get each other. I'm WAY jealous. Tim

Posted by: Tim Fitzgerald at May 07, 2008 04:11 PM (Nki/C)

5 A couple of my friends here went to that. My neighbor even brought me back the lovely letters from the Bushes. It was very cool! I wish I could have been there! I am so glad that you were able to still see him off!! My thoughts and prayers are with you!

Posted by: Vyoergirl at May 07, 2008 04:43 PM (qe77L)

6 Thinking of you both. Love and Prayers, Ramirez Family

Posted by: jennifer at May 07, 2008 06:57 PM (mlZxF)

7 It was sooo good to see you & hang out with everyone. We need to do that more often! Take care & we'll chat soon.

Posted by: Guard Wife at May 08, 2008 03:46 AM (BslEQ)

8 Wow. What a day for you! I'm happy that you sound so good so far. You guys are definitely an inspirational couple! Thinking of you!

Posted by: Tonya at May 08, 2008 10:09 AM (KV0YP)

9 Sarah, Bless you both. So glad that it seemed right to both of you for you to attend. With a prayer and smile from Arlington, Lisa

Posted by: Lisa in DC at May 10, 2008 01:22 PM (d6nc5)

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