She would never forget the fateful day that she was told her husband had died. It took her all the way back to their high school days when he first told her he wanted to join the Navy. They had plans to go to college together, live together, get married, and start a family. It completely shocked her when he sat her down, the smell of his Armani Code cologne filled her nostrils, and he started rambling on about all the benefits the Navy recruiter mentioned. The questions just kept pouring out of her mouth like word vomit. “But what about us?” “Babe, you’ll come with me, I’m not going to leave you behind.” “What happens to my dreams, what am I going to do?” “You can go to college where ever I go.” She knew she had a lot of thinking to do, and so did he. She was torn. Deciding whether to follow the man she had been so in love with for two years, or go to college like she had always planned. She could never see herself with anybody else and was really leaning towards following him anywhere he went. He had her heart completely; she had always known she wanted to be with him forever. She had never planned on having to be away from him for months at a time and knowing that at any moment he could be in immediate danger absolutely scared her to death. She started to wonder why he would do that to her so close to graduation. Why couldn’t he just stick with the original plan? Eventually she realized that to have the life she wanted she needed to be supporting and she went along with him.

After his training they got married. In the ten years since, they had three kids, two boys and one girl. Now, there she was crying her eyes out wondering why this had to happen. Their 3 kids were at school and she absolutely dreaded having to explain to them why daddy wasn’t going to be coming home ever again. As she sat there looking in the mirror, her blotchy red face and watery eyes staring her back, she could see the conversation played out in her mind. The kids came home and she told them what happened. The next week at his funeral as she received the folded flag, she realized that her life with her husband was more fulfilling that she could ever ask for. They were high school sweethearts and he loved her whole heartedly and faithfully and he made sure she always knew it. The bible verse that says, “Love is patient, love is kind and envies no one.” Always reminded her of their relationship and always would. That day she vowed that she would never let her children forget the amazing and wonderful man their father was.