honesty:

i find myself boiling inside when people try to compare eric's and my "schedule" with their situation.  as in: my husband travels like yours and things are SO hard!  i mean, two months ago, he was actually away for 4 days in a row!  can you believe that?!  or, he works 12 hours a day and our kids never see him.  if you're reading this, please take it as a public service announcement to never, ever say something like that to a military spouse, not even a coast guard spouse. if your partner is home over half the month, if you see your partner every day, or most days, if you can discuss what came in the mail, a funny commercial you saw on TV, the weird poop your kid had, how we're out of toilet paper, and all the little things you say everyday that you take for granted, then just don't say that to a military spouse.

my husband is not in a war zone (THANK GOD), but we have two babies, are far far far from any friends or family, i work two jobs and he is gone 15-20 days EVERY month.  i have coastie wife friends whose husbands were gone for their ENTIRE pregnancies to places where he couldn't call home, or spent months cleaning up the Gulf oil spill without a single trip home. 

when people say this to me, i try to be sympathetic.  i try to understand that my adjustment to eric's schedule is like a muscle i've worked on, i've built up a tolerance that others don't have b/c they simply don't have to. 

but still.  just don't.  we all have our difficulties. i don't want a medal and there are SO many men and women who have it 100x harder than we do.

i think, let's just not compare.  let's just support.