coping

My mind is all over the place tonight and it has been for the past few days. Connor is leaving on Friday. Not just leaving for another school, or for more Marine Corps training... not even to another state. Bright and early Friday morning, Connor will be spending his entire 22nd birthday on a plane to Okinawa, Japan. I can't even type that without getting tears in my eyes.

If he was just being sent to Japan for two years I could handle it, but he's not. He'll be sent to Afghanistan at some point in the near future. And I have no idea how I'll handle that. My Dad has been deployed to Iraq twice- and while it was difficult, the circumstances were completely different. Dad was on a huge base- and he rarely, if ever, left the base. I worried most about him flying in and out of the area. Now this is not to say that there wasn't any danger- of course there was. But nothing like what Connor is going to face.

How do people handle it? How do you continue to live day in and day out knowing that your loved one is in danger? I don't know. People do it everyday. I guess you just don't have a choice so you deal with it...

I don't know how specific I'll get on here about Connor's job- most of you know what he'll be doing and how freaked out I am. I appreciate your thoughts (and your prayers!) as Connor starts out on this journey. Please keep my family in your thoughts on Friday. It's going to be a tough day. I know we're not the only ones going through this, but it doesn't make it any easier.