To My Wife This Christmas

Not enough. Simply and mindfully not enough. I have in my life a woman that remains steadfast and confident in her entire being. My deployment decision became a mutual decision that she fully supported, but I know that it has taken a toll on her. She has had to hold down the fort dealing with items that normally I would have resolved quickly and easily. Instead, she's come to rely on close friends, which is also great, but the fact that she cannot rely on my presence cannot be disputed. This woman, my wife, is my teammate and I am hers. Together, we make things work pretty darn well. In the absence of one, the other tends to struggle, even if for little things.


Christmas What Year??



Without her, I would simply starve or devolve to ramen noodles and iceberg lettuce. Without me, she has to replace light bulbs 35' in the air, disassemble, repair, and reassemble the entire pool filtering system, manage to keep two golden retriever swimmers from drowning the house, plus working a full-time job and taking care of the house and those within and a multitude of other things requiring dual hands.
Yet she has managed to find the time to send me several care packages that have sustained me physically and boosted my morale beyond mere survival into a satisfied life while on this junkyard of a post. Boxes of delights she knows I enjoy including everything from pretzels to a diffuser that makes my room smell like a spa. She has spent hour upon hour dehydrating meats of various forms, vacuum sealing them and sending them over with bags of much needed fiber to stock my fridge and supply me with high-quality meat. I've resorted to freezing the bags of jerky to keep them fresh I have so much.
My Thanksgiving sucked. I'll just put that out there. It was not good. I truly wasn't expecting it to be something incredible, but it would have been much more enjoyable had I even had a small taste of turkey. Then we rolled into what is now the Christmas Holiday season, and moral is pretty low. Not just mine either. As a teacher (or former teacher), I have loved Christmas. Decorating my room, playing holiday music for the kids you name it I love it. This year, while here in Iraq, I pre-ordered lights and streamers for the office, but around here, the spirit just seems to not be catching on.
Then my wife's most recent three care packages arrived. Each one was full of Christmassy goodies that have been spread around the office and inside my room like an indoor carnival. Crème de la crème: she and my daughter put together a project of a Christmas tree made of felt, button sewn on it in various locations, and a plethora of ornaments made of several shapes and sizes felt that hangs from each button. Then they were able to get kids and teachers from Walter Bracken to do the same and the box arrived just yesterday, 08DEC17.

I immediately hung the tree on the door leading to the hallway from my office and had several guys from my section hang the ornaments. Decorating the tree is a family event, and since my wife and daughter and grandson are so far away from me at the moment, I shared in this with the guys. I have no idea how they received it, but it meant a lot to me. At the time, I had no idea what she had done. In the care package was a tin box and a card. I figured they were "do not open until." gifts. Then I facetimed with her this morning while she was wrapping up her first and much deserved trip to Hawaii. She informed me to open the card and the tin, which spilled the beans. The tree and ornaments were destined for my room, not the office.
Had I known, I wouldn't have shared. Yup..I would been greedy and selfish and kept all that beauty for myself. My wife, my daughter, friends and kiddos from Bracken. All put effort into making my Christmas special. And it will be. I kept much of the stuff for myself, don't get me wrong. I have a little decoration going on as you can see, but I also know that as I sing my wife's praises here, I also know she does just this sorta thing: she makes people happy through her giving. She is a giver. While I would love to keep her giving all to myself, I am so proud to be able to see her efforts and so many other's efforts to hopefully bring happiness to others in this hum-drum location.
In my own little slice of in-heaven, I put to good use the vast assortment of other decorations my wife sent, plus a couple other do-dads that I ordered, and the remaining ornaments that didn't fit on the tree at work. I made myself a heater-tree, that will suffice nicely. Presents from home will be placed under the tree the night before Christmas and I might even do a live show of opening for Christmas. Thank you daughter, thank you Walter Bracken, and thank you Wife!