Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
I know many do, and my Faith, she would do just fine on her own. However, I don’t want that. If I’m being honest, I just can’t stand to be away from her. This distance is slowly killing me and the love I have for my job. I dreamed about being a soldier and serving my country. Now, all I dream about is being hers.
Just thinking about Faith pregnant with our baby sends a thrill through me. I can picture her round belly in my mind so easily. She’s going to be sexy as fuck carrying my babies. Yes, babies, and yes, they’re going to be mine. There is no other outcome that I’ll accept where my wife is concerned. She’ll find out soon enough that this marriage wasn’t just for convenience. It was because my heart belongs to her, and I don’t want it back.
Ever.
There are twenty of us in our team for this deployment, and it’s wearing on all of us. We’ve trained, and we were as ready as we could be, but this heat, it’s unbearable, and the sand. I have sand in places that sand should never, ever be. It’s uncomfortable, and let’s not talk about my feet. We walk mile after mile each day, and my feet constantly ache.
When we make it back to camp, all I want to do is strip down, take a shower, and try to call Faith. Instead, we’ll have to debrief about the day's events; we have to check our gear, then we get to shower and eat, and the rest of the night is ours. We swap days and nights so much, I’m not sure which way is up. When we get home, I’m hoping I can convince Faith to take a few days off work and stay in bed with me while I catch up on sleep. Okay, maybe we won’t only be sleeping. Maybe if I’m lucky, we can start working on those babies. Or at least get in some good practice. Surely, she gets vacation time, right?
Trudging into the tent, I’m ready to grab clothes and head to the shower. However, when I make it to my bed, it’s covered. There are multiple boxes and a huge stack of letters. Relief swamps me. I know that most of those items are from my wife, and I crave her words. Suddenly, my exhausting shitty day just got a hell of a lot better.
“Looks like the mail finally came,” one of the guys says. I don’t register who as I take in the abundance of packages on my bed.
“Damn, Anthony, does your wife have a sister?” one of them asks. He peers down at the packages and letters littering my cot. Some of the guys have little or no family, and I do feel bad that I have such a great support system waiting for me at home.
I move forward, ignoring everyone and sifting through the madness. There are seven boxes in total. One of them has in big bold letters that I’m supposed to open it first. I move the stack of letters to the side and tear into the box. The first thing I see is a white envelope that says, Read me, so that’s exactly what I do. I find the corner of the bed that’s not covered, take a seat, and pull out the letter.
My dearest husband,
Surprise! I hope all the packages have reached you. There should be seven. Remember when I told you I was working on something? Well, it’s turned out to be bigger than I ever could have imagined.
It all started when I went to the principal and asked if I could have my students draw pictures to send to you and your team. I thought it would be a fun project for the kids, and something that might brighten your day and the others. She said yes, but she went even further and pitched the idea to every grade level in the building.
When I told Hannah, she was on board to help. She and I spoke to someone on base who was able to give us enough addresses of deployed units that each grade level could send their own.
You get my kindergarten class, and let me tell you, they loved every minute of drawing pictures and helping pack the boxes. Hannah helped, and the outpouring of support from the community brought me to tears. Hannah took donations from her business, and other local businesses, like the diner and the pizza place, took donations as well. We split them between each grade level, and with the parents’ support, I’m happy to say that each classroom was able to gather six boxes of supplies, snacks, and other fun items to send to their deployed troops.
The box you just opened, that one is just for you. Some personal supplies, some snacks, and a few other things that I thought you might like. Oh, and a couple of pictures drawn from a few of my students just for you. The other boxes are for your unit. I hope everyone enjoys the goodies. I hope that this gives all of you a little piece of home.