We love and hate our phones

There are many things military spouses do when their service members are deployed.... two of the most notable are checking e-mail and social networking sites constantly and having our phones with us at all times.... you never know when your heart might e-mail or call.... and you don't want to miss it.... the feelings when that happens are extreme and horrible.

Many of us set our phones to receive e-mail just in case we have the chance to catch them "live" and get to have an e-mail conversation with them.... like chatting. Even getting a one line "I am really exhausted and am going to bed" e-mail can light up our day - heck, it can light up our week if the have been "River City" (no communication).

People don't get that. They say things like "I could never be apart from my wife/husband like that" and "How do you stand it?" - not one of these things is helpful.... but it does have the benefit of having us re-evaluate our lives and marriages on a fairly constant basis.


We see our spouses as they truly are - no rose colored glasses for us. And we love them any way or in spite of it.... Laugh if you want, but if you haven't spent 1/2 of your married life away from your spouse then your marriage hasn't truly been tested.

Some people view a marriage as being tested by going through the day to day grind and surviving. Military spouses view being tested as finding out your spouse had an affair right before he /she goes out to sea and trying to fix things by e-mail.

Some people view a marriage as being tested when their spouse gets home late from work and dinner is ruined. Military spouses view being tested as your spouse being in rotating shift work so you can't plan your week, much less your day.

Some people view a marriage as being tested if they are a different faith than their spouse. Military spouses pray to God every day to keep their service member safe, regardless of what religion they follow.

We keep things running smoothly, choose not to share bad news that our service members can't fix because it would just increase their already stressful situation, know that the written word is open to interpretation by the reader so try not to develop hurt feelings because our sailor/soldier/ marine/airman wrote something really stupid..... we hold them close in our hearts because we love them and we love being able to support them.

So... we love our phones, especially when they ring and we get to hear the voice of our heart.