Dear Ryan

Have I said lately how much I love my husband? Because I love him very, very much. I'm so extremely proud of him and the sacrifices he is making to fight for this country. I'm making my own set of sacrifices, but I know missing our life together, especially Anya's birth, is so much harder on him than anything I could be going through here in the comforts of home. I still have my family, movie theaters, fast food, and Wal-Mart. He has only MRE's to eat and posts to stand while waiting and hoping to get care packages from me filled with Mt. Dew, snacks that have become treats, new razor blades to replace all of his dull ones, and fresh socks to make him feel a little more human. He constantly hopes for letters filled with news of Anya and pictures of me to get him through the long hours of standing post trying not to think too much about what he's missing because men aren't allowed to cry.

And then he blows that when he gets to hear my voice for the first time in weeks and can no longer hold back the tears that have been building with each snippet of news on the kicks in my belly that he can't feel or the baby furniture I bought that he can't assemble. His fellow Marines laugh, but he's beyond caring. He misses us too much to care about his composure at this point. He just wants to be home to experience it all with me. But instead he's doing what he signed up to do: fighting to protect his family and his country so that we can stay free. And even though it's hard, it's worth it to him to be doing this. And that is why I love my idealistic, hopeless romantic husband so very much. Because he loves this country enough to sacrifice his own desires to protect it. And because he loves me enough to cry on the phone even if it means being a joke to many of his fellow Marines for the next little while. I love that I'm worth that much to him. I miss you, Babe. Stay safe. I love you more with each passing day even when we have to be separated by duty.