every cloud has a silver lining

I sometimes wonder where I would be today if I had not met and married my Marine. I can say without a doubt that he is my soul-mate, my other half – but I know plenty of people who have never met their soul-mate and yet are still ‘happy’. Or some version of happy. So I ask myself, could I have had a happy life without this man? Without the joy and the angst he brings me?


I don’t think so.

But since the next several months will be filled with more angst than joy, as he will be 6000+ miles away, I am looking for ways to focus on the positive and remember how to at least PRETEND to be happy in his absence.

So, to that end, here is a list of all the *good* things about deployment (I know, they are dramatically overshadowed by the bad things, but I’m trying to be POSITIVE! Work with me here.)


In no particular order:

1) During deployment, I can toss and turn as much as I need to for the half hour or hour that it normally takes for me to fall asleep.

2) During deployment, I can leave my dirty clothes on the floor in my bathroom, or wherever I choose to undress, until I am ready to wash them – no more worrying about getting it into that pesky laundry hamper!

3) During deployment, I can watch whatever girly-shows I want to on TV! (after I wrestle the remote away from my sons, of course) I can even hold the remote.

4) During deployment, I can have TOTAL SILENCE in the house if I choose – at least, while the kids are in school.

5) During deployment, I will only wash about HALF of the usual amount of laundry (since hubby’s laundry tends to be as much as mine and the boys’ put together, between his uniforms and his civilian clothes)

6) During deployment, I can have people OVER. This one is big, since hubby only lets me do this a few times a year – and I LOVE entertaining!

7) During deployment, I can leave my srapbooking projects sitting out for DAYS at a time with no one to complain about my clutter.

8) During deployment, I can eat cereal for breakfast EVERY MORNING if I want to (the kids prefer this and I hate doing dishes, so I enjoy the break from cooking hubby a hot breakfast every morning)

9) During deployment, if I don’t feel like blowdrying my hair, or putting on makeup, or even shaving my legs, NO ONE WILL CARE. No one will even notice, most likely

10) During deployment, we can have breakfast FOR DINNER – something hubby thinks is just inherently wrong. I’m talking waffles, eggs, turkey bacon, the works!



I will be adding to this list as I come up with more ideas – what is your favorite ‘silver lining’ about deployment?