The Word of the Day...

STRESS
There are a lot of definitions for the word stress. It all depends on how you want to use it; you can use the word in phonics (to put the stress on a particular syllable of a word), or you could use it to define the mechanics of a thing (the ratio of force to an area). But most of us relate to the word 'stress' as it applies to our physical being- the specific response that our body has to an unpleasant event, or series of events, in our life.
I will use the latter definition for now.
Some of the symptoms I have experienced lately, and will continue to experience (I suppose) are: Grinding of teeth, anxiety, restlessness, sadness, anger, crying spells, relation conflict. That is a lot to have to put up with. But it's nothing unusual for me. Especially when I have to deal with the fact that my husband is leaving the country for a while.
Yep, he is going to Iraq. And within the next 10 days. That is the bad news, the good news is that he will only be gone for about two weeks. I found this out for certain this morning. If that doesn't produce some of the aforementioned symptoms of stress in a person, then I don't know what will.
But, the worst part of all of this is that I really can't show him how I'm dealing with this situation. Nope. That wouldn't be very 'military' of me. My husband and I spent 20 years in the Army; he as the active duty member, and me as his loving and supportive wife. I was the one who reassured him that everything would be fine in his absence, then waved goodbye with a sallow smile on my lips. And I did this countless times over the years, he was gone a hell of a lot then. He certainly paid his dues, or so I thought.
He doesn't feel that way, about the 'paying dues' part that is. He feels that if there are 20 year old men and women serving overseas, in harms way, then he should do everything he can to help them out. And that must include going over to Iraq to make sure the programs that he works on are being utilized the best way possible. Keep our troops functioning and safe. OK, I guess I can't argue with that reasoning. If I did then I would be a true selfish putz.
I'm sure that in the coming month I will be revisiting this topic frequently. There is a lot of stress coming my way. I know that he is going to be safe, and he'll be back home before I have gotten used to him being gone.
Stress- it's the word of the day.