Dear Jace | U.S. Army

Dear Jace: You Changed Me

Dear Jace,

It's already been two weeks since you left for Afghanistan, and I am missing you more than ever. I never figured it would be this hard, this stressful. I think about you every second of the day, and worry whether you are okay or not. It seems like all the time on the news, you hear about these...occurrences where someone from the military has moved on to the next part in life due to some sort of attack or ambush. I worry about you, I really do. If I could just see your face, and know that you're alright, I would be feeling so much better right now.

The girl you knew is the girl who had absolutely no military experience, no family members serving or whatnot, the girl who didn't know what to expect when her boyfriend told her that he was enlisting in the Army. But now that everything he told her about has officially became a reality, she is now part of his world and realizes all the hardships that are drawn in when someone she dearly loves is serving.

When I first met you Jace, we were in high school. I was known as that shy, reserved girl, always keeping to herself and drifted around through the years. No one ever talked to me, and I only had one best friend, who in the end betrayed me. But then one day as I was plugging in the combination to my locker, someone shoved into me, causing all of my books to fall out of my hands, scattering all over the floor. People walked by and laughed as I scrambled to pick them up, but then you took the time to stop and help me. No one had ever done that before, and I was shocked. One thing led to another and next thing I knew, you had the guts to ask the most unpopular girl in the student body out. You, the football jock, asked me, the quiet, fragile girl on a date. So I never really got the chance to say thank you. Thank you for helping me out on that day, for being the sunshine that shined through my clouds.

Be safe,

Your dearest Clarise