Day 1: Departure

Dropping you off today was different. I still have a hole in my heart, but at least it's not filled with the dread of never again touching your face. I know you will come home from this one; a certainty I never had in deployments past. 

I miss you already. I missed you as soon as you walked away, and I'm a mess without you, but we figured that out two deployments ago. Ha. 

We will survive this. It takes a special kind of strength to do what we do. Our children will inherit that strength.