So here goes with my attempt to connect to something today. I had a great conversation with my husband last night about my blog yesterday. He wanted to express to me that he felt that we as a family all sacrificed for his military career. Even though I do acknowledge that and it wasn't the intent of my reference to "sacrifice" in my writing yesterday. What came out of that conversation was a true open and honest discussion about the word sacrifice and what it meant to all of us. He even expressed that sometimes he does have regret about the sacrifices that we had to make because of his decision to serve and I tried to explain to him that he had to look at his own sacrifice and ask himself if he would do it again if we were NOT in the picture. Questioning where this regret really came from boiled down to his family. This turned into a conversation and a clarity for me that we all needed to be aware of the sacrifices we would all make and learn to live with them in some manner. We need to plan for them and my husband needs to work hard to make sure that even though he may miss a birthday or other special event, he needs to leave some sort of effort behind for both me and the kids to let us know that we are special to him and create special memories for us to help reinforce that. 

The bottom line at the end of the night was that I knew we have really started to grow as a couple. The fact that he now brings these topics to the table for discussion and we can have productive dialog on the topics is MAJOR. In the past I was the one instigating all the discussion and those "talks" didn't often go that well. At this stage, we have both learned to put our pride aside and talk about even the most difficult things. Sometimes a little passionate conversation but at the end we always try to make sure it ends with both of us feeling good.

Lesson for the day: I learned that even when I don't "feel" inspired to do something I have promised myself I would do, if I push myself and just start writing, the words start to come. They may be brief but by the end, I can usually find a lesson in there somewhere. I also came to realize that good communication between partners takes a LOT of practice but it does pay off!

Wishing you happiness and light!

Until Next Time,

Laura D.