It was one of our best conversations ever. J. only calls when he’s got a shift babysitting the radio (the guys have to man the radio 24/7); this particular day the Team went out on a pretty serious mission to try to hunt down insurgents in a village known to be housing them. By total luck of the draw J. happened to already be scheduled with "radio duty." So our time was peppered with bits of chatter from the mission. It was fascinating and a bit of a reality check for me as to how much work their day-to-day entails.
Anyway, this time I set up my webcam and J. got to see me (in all my frumpy glory) while we chatted. We also got to play checkers online and for a minute I actually felt guilty that we had this kind of time together (as if J. working seven days a week didn’t entitle him to a silly break for half an hour to play checkers with his wife). Its hard to explain how much this phone call and relaxed game of online checkers did for me; it was like any other weekend with my husband and for just one hour in all these months, life actually felt a little normal.
On an unrelated but interesting note, J. said that he picked up an interesting book in the airport on the way back to Iraq and highly recommended it: The Underground Economist by Tim Harford. Much better than Freakonomics, according to reviewers.
Jim says
Hi Crystal,
I read your site regularly, and enjoy it very much. I am glad that technology allows you and J. to communicate. We did not have that capability when I was serving.
Dorothy says
Aww, glad u were able to play checkers with hubby. Good Times!
Michelle says
Hi, I just joined MilBlogs and came upon your site. =)
Congrats on having a nice call with your husband. Those are the best.
-CG
Meagan says
As I read this I am watching the USS Ronald Reagan homecoming coverage on t.v. I wish all of our hubbies could come home. I’m glad you got to talk to J. And that he had time to play checkers with you.
stephanie says
i’m SO GLAD you got to play checkers with your husband! i can relate in some small way with what you are saying. it brought tears to my eyes… i’m very happy you got to enjoy a “normal” moment together 🙂