appreciate every breath..

Appreciation. Remember that thing your parents always told you about? The thing that you would learn at some point in your life and you would "appreciate" everything that they've done for you. Turns out, they were right. It may not have happened the way they had thought; hitting some sort of rock bottom where everything seems to be going the wrong way, and at that point you start to appreciate them. No, it didn't happen that way. It happened because of a little thing called The Marine Corps.


I haven't hit a rock bottom, but I've had my world taken away from me for seven months. Seven months of long, restless, worrisome nights. Never knowing whether he's alive, whether he's okay, if he's upset, if he's happy. Seven long months of hearing about deaths of people that came way too soon, deaths of people trying to do better for this world, trying to do right for people who can't even help themselves. When you live this lifestyle, the military way of living, I think you start to learn to appreciate things a lot more. You never really know if tomorrow will be there, you never know if you will see your loved one again or hear the voice you long for again. I can promise you, if we hadn't been brought down this journey, I wouldn't appreciate life the way I do now.


I appreciate life. I appreciate my husband. I appreciate our relationship, our love, our honesty with each other, our faithfulness. I appreciate the good morning's, the I love you's, the smiles, the laughs and everything in between. I appreciate my family. I appreciate my faith. I appreciate my friends and the bond that we've created that others can't even begin to fathom; the true friendship so many search for. You even appreciate the bad times, because it is in those trying times, you prove to yourself that you can do things you've never thought possible. You are stronger than you think. 


It's been a journey of ups and downs that the Marine Corps has led us on, but I appreciate every second. I appreciate every second because it has only made us stronger, it has only made us wiser, love harder, kiss longer and hug a little tighter. I know without the love we share, the people we have close and the faith we have in our relationship, in each other and in God, we wouldn't have made it through the most trying times of our lives.

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all other."