Since I Am Here and You are There...

When we first met I knew I loved you, but I had no idea how much this love would test me, or teach me. How is it that you are so far away, when I can almost feel you laying next to me the way we once did? I feel that we are connected on some other level that I cannot explain, even though you are somewhere in a desert far away, I can feel your hand caressing mine. I long for the day when I get word that you will be coming home.

Thank you so much for leaving Max to take care of me. He is the sweetest dog I've ever met, and I can't help but laugh and smile when he wants to play and go for walks. Sometimes I take him by your parents farm and let him run in the field, and it amuses me to watch him check on the other animals with a keenly protective and friendly eye. He is so much like you in that way. I never thought I liked dogs so much, but waking up to a golden retriever nuzzling your feet makes it hard to feel lonely or sad.

In my senior year when you took me to prom, I day dreamed of marrying you. I was far too shy about it to tell you until the day you gave me the beautiful ring that the women in your family have passed down. I feel honored to wear it, more than I can say. My childish daydreams involved us going to the same college, picking out a house, and painting the bedroom of your future son. I never imagined you joining the Marines, or being stationed in Afghanistan. There were so many times I thought I couldn't handle it, you being so far away, our wedding on hold. I know that you are strong and brave, but I worried so much for you in the beginning.


You letters and calls give me strength when you can make them. What was first a great challenge to me has now taught me so much that I wouldn't have it any other way. Being without you for a time has taught me to be independent, my own person, sufficient to take care of myself. When you come home I think you will find me a more complete woman to share your life with, rather than simply a pretty child. I know that your travels will have shown you a great many things, too, and I can't wait to hear all your stories. I respect you more than I can say, your strength of conviction and dedication to our country is something I admire. You are a man who any Mother would be proud to call her son, and any woman would be beside herself with joy to call husband.

Send me a kiss on the wind when you get this letter, I am sure to feel it somehow. There is no space between us in our love, although I miss you deeply. Soon, you will be in my arms again, and I will kiss you with wild abandon, as though all of the stars of the night sky shine in your eyes.

I Love You,