Owned by Uncle Sam: Living Life in the Military

Its July 1st, 2003 and you wake up to see your toddler has come into bed sometime in the night and you hug her tight.  Glancing at the clock to see its just after dawn and your spouse is already out the door.  You rest your head back down, inhale as much as you can stretch your arms and legs and look over at your daughter opening her eyes with excitement.  You smile back but there is some lie behind your smile, you wish that your husband was there to see the sun sparkle on her forehead and dance across her chestnut hair.  Brushing it out of her eyes you whisper, "Morning Stinky Face."  In response she giggles while saying, "Morning Mommy, where's Daddy?"  You hoped to be upright before that question came.  See today is not like the previous years that you have known.  Today your husband starts a new job, he got up early to embark on one heck of an adventure.  Aboard the Cutter Seneca, a medium endurance cutter home ported out of Boston, Massachusetts's your husband is in his finest uniform, requesting permission to come aboard.  In the previous days you were used to the Coast Guard, after all you were once in yourself.  You went through the basic training, you could explain what it was like to hold a gun in your hand and have to shoot on command, to be yelled at and rushed day in and out for what seemed like countless hours. Ah, but what you weren't used to was saying "I'll be by your side."

In the next eleven days we prepared for the time where I would bring him to the boat and say good bye until September.  For us in that moment, it seemed like an eternity.  With our little on in her car seat, she looked up to her father with smiles and completely unaware that for the next several weeks it was going to be her and I.