Militaryspouse Stories

A poem for post-deployment

There's a lot of things they don't tell you about falling in love with someone in the Marines. Sure, they tell you the blunt stuff: You're not going to be able to see your significant other for a long, long time. You'll hardly be able to contact them at certain times. Time spent together is not guaranteed. But what they don't tell you is that you're in for a world of heartbreak and sadness and you have to wake up the next day just to do it all over again. ---------------------------- This is my experience as I wait for my recruit to come home, as a Marine.

After months of early mornings, long commutes, and endless guilt, Daliah realizes she's forgotten how to breathe. Marcus is still deployed. Their daughter, Rosalia, is growing fast. And Daliah is tired-tired of measuring life in countdowns, tired of surviving instead of living. So she quits her demanding job and decides to rebuild her world one small, courageous choice at a time. From the quiet streets of suburban Chicago to the golden light of Lincoln Park, she learns that joy doesn't wait for the perfect moment-it blooms in the messy, beautiful now. Along the way, she finds friendship, purpose, and the courage to stop counting the days and start living them. A moving story of rediscovery, motherhood, and the quiet power of choosing yourself.

-----For privacy purposes my and my family names have been changed but this is a true story----- I met the love of my life when I was only 14 years old. We lived in one of those hopeless small towns. The kind where you either end up a teacher or sales associate at Walmart. I'm not saying either of these are bad but its not what I wanted. I wanted to be a performer, live my life on Broadway. Of course this was an unachievable dream not because I'm not talented but because when I turned 18 I found myself working as a CNA in a nursing home. The pull to care for others pushed down and drowned the side of me that wanted to be a star. My drive for the spotlight became a hunger to live for those I cared for. My high school sweetheart turned fiancée also had a drive to serve others. He spent 6 years as a vet tech and on October 9th, 2019 he shipped off to bootcamp. I found myself in new roles. In a matter of months I had become a wife, I had a new job, and both my brothers (whom recently shipped to bootcamp) had graduations coming up. Just when the dust was settling my new husband called me. He had gotten orders. My whole life crumbled around me and I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. ---------KEEP READING TO FIND OUT WHERE WE MOVED---------

Gina Carpenter has always been so sure of herself. She's the go-to doctor, the go-to daughter, and everyone's go-to girl whenever they want something done. Until her husband is killed in combat. Suddenly, Gina isn't so sure about anything in life, especially herself. While trying to process her grief and figure out what life is supposed to be like now, someone from her past enters into her present and sets Gina's future in motion. As she learns more about herself and the life that she shared with the man she loved, Gina remembers who she is and discovers who she is meant to be.

She notices things, small things. The way the dogs act. The way the man never steps past the fence line. The way her best friend starts to come undone just as her husband is due home from deployment. Two separate threads, maybe. Or maybe not. In a town where nothing bad ever happens, she's starting to wonder if something already has.

Daliah Wiley has been carrying her husband's letter for ninety-four days. A simple envelope. A promise to wait. A love stretched thin across oceans and time zones. Marcus is deployed in a war zone. She's home with their one-year-old, trying to keep the pieces together while life keeps moving without him. On her thirtieth birthday, Daliah finally opens the letter-and finds more than words. She finds a map of love, devotion, and the small reminders that she's never truly alone. From late-night reflections to unexpected gifts, Love Letters is a tender, cinematic story about distance, faith, and the kind of love that survives everything-even silence. A story for anyone who's ever loved someone they couldn't hold, and found strength in the waiting.

Poem about a defence aspirant becoming an army officer