Originally Posted by MistyMarie

Today was the first day since my husband deployed last October that I had an absolute meltdown. I was at Lowes and this customer was a real bully, refusing to wait his turn to get help. The saleslady did nothing to stop his verbal abuse, so I finally turned around and walked out of the store, pulling my nine year old behind me. I sat out in the car and lost it. I cried and cried and cried. Had my husband been with me, I know I would not have been bullied like that.

Then, I went to Home Depot to get the blinds that I needed, but they were out of the right size. So, I left there in tears and stopped at a convenience store to buy a pair of sunglasses to cover my tear streaked face and swollen red eyes before I had to go pick up my daughter from a birthday party. I then called my mom for some emotional support as I drove the short mile to get my daughter and my mom started giving me a lecture about not crying in front of my son, so I hung on her, pulled over and cried some more.

After getting my daughter, I made a fifteen mile trip to another Lowes to get the blinds I still needed. The sales lady there was great, but checking out, the cashier acknowledged my military ID for the discount, but forgot to give it to me, so ten minutes later, after having to go to customer service to get a fourteen dollar refund, I cried again, all the way to the car.

I get home, only to have a dead drill, so while it was charging, I decided to try my hand at hooking up our sprinkler system. Everything was good, until I turned it on and water spewed from several heads. After getting mud up to the elbows, splattered mud across my t-shirt and face, and a large cut across my hand when I slipped cutting a fitting, I sat in my front driveway and started crying again.

I want my husband home so bad it hurts. I want to not have to figure out how to install blinds, fix sprinklers, patch ceilings, repair gates, change staircase lights, clean out gutters, fix dripping faucets... I want to curl up next to him each night and have somebody here to share the day's stresses with. I want my kids to not cry themselves to sleep at night because they miss him so much too.

Today I needed help. I needed someone to lean on for support. My neighbor took a few minutes to talk to me and her husband is coming over to look at my sprinklers sometime this week. It is amazing how just a small act of kindness can make such a huge difference. Their support gave me the emotional strength to make it a few more days. My husband is not coming home permenantly until this next October, so I have only my friends and my neighbors to support me through this.

So, if you know someone who has a spouse that is deployed and you can help them, please do. A small act of kindness goes a long way.