There's so many divorces and Dear John/Jane letters here, I've been to 1 wedding in 5 years...yet over 10 of my friends have been divorced in half that time. I've personally had a relationship and some good friendships fizzle outand end because of deployments. Military life is hard on relationships, especially during war; one of my friends...her husband has been deployed for 23 straight months...and he'll be in Iraq for the unforseen future, she's seen him for a week at a time every 6 months. But it can work, I guess it just takes devotion and effort, I've seen it work. But sometimes it's hard not to be bitter, seeing what friends are going through; to have to comfort someone as they watch a video tape of their kids first words and later...first step...yet they've never even seen their baby in person; to listen to someone cry because he's not able to be there for his daughter who just broke her arm and misses him terribly. It's so easy to quit, to give up and say I deserve more that this type of life, many have. I though I was odd growing up because I was the only one that didn't have a stepmom or stepdad or been through a divorce. My parents have been together for almost 30 years through thick and thin, that says wonders about my parents, especially my Mom. She's an amazing lady, I'm superblessed to have her as a mother. She grew up in the Phillipines, went to school on her own (against the idea of what a woman was supposed to do at that time), worked really hard and got a scholorship for her masters in America...and the amazing thing is that they only give 2 scholorships per year, out of the whole country. She met and married an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War, well-knowing what she was getting into. Pilot's had a poor attrition rate...while other wives would worry if their husband will get home in time for dinner, she'd to worry if he would survive his day of work...and how she would raise 3 kids on her own if anything happened. Being in the military, there are many sacrifices, most of the time people focus on the people deploying to the otherside of the world, not the people left behind. Her life so far has been anything but easy, I can't imagine the difficulties she faced, but she always carried herself with strength and grace, I never knew when something was wrong. She stayed faithful even though my dad was deployed so much (really amazing to me), and managed to raise 3 hellraising children into decent and upstanding adults (puff puff), my brother is an ubersmart electrical engineer and my sister is a really caring person who is finishing her degree. So, Happy Birthday Mom...I just wanted to say how great you are and how proud I am to be your son.