I Cried

Tonight, I cried unexpectedly.  I wasn't really shocked; I'm kind of an emotional person.  Plud I'd had a couple.

But I was hanging out at the bar with my new, awesome, crazy friend (I swear, she is my twin from England).  Somehow, we got on the topic of seeing family, family visiting and visiting family when "back home."  I talked to her about how it's "a little" stressful when we go back home, as both of our parents are divorced so there are just a lot of people to split our time amongst (geez, is that proper English??)

I also mentioned how it's sad that no one really visits us.  I mentioned the last time my Dad visited us was when I got back from my deployment in 2010, and it was immediately after Dave and I got back from Atlanta.  We were driving back 18 hours after Dave picked me up there and we picked up Teddy from our friend's house in my old stomping grounds, Warner Robins, when he informed me we would have visitors.  I was a little annoyed that we had a very limited amount of time together back home before they showed up 2 days later.  Maybe that makes me ungrateful or unappreciative, but those were my true feelings at the time.  I felt a little suffocated after getting back to the States after 6 months in the lovely country of Afghanistan.

I then went on to say that it's frustrating to feel....frustrated.  We want to see family more often, but the circumstances always feel stressful as we don't feel they always understand where we are coming from. 

My lovely friend (who lost her father a couple years ago) immediately reminded me of the most important part.  I'm my Dad's little girl.  Since I was born, it's been his job to protect me.  After 6 months of being able to do nothing to protect me in a war zone, he just wanted to see me and that is all he was thinking about.  I think that is probably true? :) The tears flowed.  3 years later. 

I miss you Dad.  I love you.  

Tell your loved ones you love them.