For my wife

The nicest thing my wife said about me was something I overheard in our backyard. We have a shared back yard and pool that is part of our town house association. Just before I deployed, we were out there with our young son and neighbors, Zenia and Pavel, married Russian émigrés who came to this country nearly twenty years ago. My wife asked Zenia how long they had been married and she answered twenty-two years. (They are roughly the same age as my wife and I but have two teenage children.). My wife exclaimed, “Wow, I wish I could have been married to Rico for that long!”

Later on, I asked her what she meant by that. She said simply she wished she could already have that time with me (we both married later in life). I was humbled, to say the least. After all, I have plenty of faults: I have a terrible short term memory and always have problems remembering the Next Thing We Are Supposed To Do, and I often finish her sentences much to her displeasure.

Being a single mom is tough, especially working full time. No matter how tough my current assignments, I only have to look out for myself. The next meal is as easy as walking to the nearest DFAC. My wife comes home to day care pickup, feeding our son, cooking dinner, bathing our son, putting him to sleep, and then enjoying some time of her own before going to sleep.

Last night, I worked late on a presentation I would be giving today. As I made the nearly ten minute walk back to billeting, I had my iPod set on random. The song “Comfortable” by John Mayer came on. I had purchased the song as part of an album but had never really listened to it critically. Although it’s a sad song about a break up and pining for love lost, one set of lines made me smile:

I loved your
Gray sweat pants
No makeup
So perfect

Sweetie, I miss you and those gray sweatpants on Sunday mornings…