14 Months is Way Too Long

"All good?"

"Couldn't be better!"

My friend's husband is safely back from Iraq, and they're enjoying a quiet week together in Hawaii. That text exchange (yes, we insist on using both capitalization and punctuation when we text) is the first and last I hope to hear from her until I am alerted to pick her up from the airport.

Amen.

I am breathing a sigh of relief and filling up my Tivo with America's Next Top Model, Private Practice, and Grey's Anatomy for us to watch together when she gets back. For while she will be coming home all-too-soon, he'll be stationed elsewhere for a while. She won't have to worry quite as much every day, but she won't have her husband home with her, either, so I'm sure she'll still need a little bit of juice box and guilty pleasures television.