Life is crazy. I know. I'm pointing out the obvious. But, even when the husband's home, it's so easy to let life get in the way and take each other for granted. Children, housework, work, all get in the way. With my husband deployed, I knew I'd miss those "special moments" even more.

"Those Moments," where, suddenly your heart grows three times as big and the air catches in your chest. Where you're smiling from ear to ear, remembering precisely why you married him. Where you feel extra poignantly that overwhelming love for him. It happens for no reason--a particular jovial conversation, just "clicking" more than normal, support you desperately needed to hear.

I have felt "that moment" several times this week.

The first time was, after my husband had been out of his operation less than twelve hours in Landstuhl, when I mentioned my husband that it was my sister's birthday, he insisted we call her via Skype. Wow. This is why I married him--he's so selfless!

Even before that, as he was airlifted from base to base, in attempts to figure out what exactly was wrong, I felt it. He never complained. He was in pain. He was in foreign places. He had no idea what was going on. But, he comforted me in my panic, and told me how proud he was of me. Wow. I don't deserve him.

When, in the middle of the night he couldn't sleep because of the pain, he called me. I'd just gotten a grade back on my paper and was disappointed. Instead of telling me he had far more to complain about, he cheered me on to finish the semester. Wow. What a sweet man.

Even from so far away, I am reminded daily as to how committed this man is to me, to our family. He sacrifices daily his precious time (during 16-hour work days) to make sure we hear from him. He made sure that Mother's Day gifts went out in time so they would get here before next weekend. He had every right to forget, but that's not my husband. He says constantly, in the midst of pain, exhaustion, or stress, how proud he is of me. He thinks of others, not just me, always before himself both through his job as Soldier and as Richard himself.

I am truly blessed. I remember that, each time my heart swells, my breath catches in my chest, and I grin from ear to ear. What an incredible man to do all he does for his family, for his daughter, for his wife. He's an incredible man, and I am truly a blessed woman. He's still here, still committed to doing his best to serve us. I truly feel, because of this, that when he comes home for good, that we will be able to pick up like no time passed.