Some days just Suck

On Monday, the boys and I saw off hubby's good friend who has just deployed for seven months (hopefully no extensions) to do a non-combat deployment. Hubby wasn't able to leave work but the boys and I really wanted to make sure that there was someone there to say goodbye and so that his girlfriend wouldn't be standing there alone.
Initially, I didn't think I would get that emotional. I knew it was sad but I felt very detached as he's not my friend so much as he is my husband's (even though he's often at the house just as much if not more than hubby) and I wasn't the one saying good bye to a significant other. But as I looked around and watched the faces of the women being left behind, I was touched by how well they were all holding it together and that made me sad.
I don't know what was worst the wife with the toddler and baby who was standing by herself or the pregnant wife with a toddler who obviously would be delivering without her husband there to meet the baby. Or maybe it was the dad who almost smacked his hand on the cement archway that covers the ramp the amphibious assault vehicles go down because he was waving goodbye to his son until the absolute last minute. Or maybe it was the Marine who adamantly pointed to his wife/fiancee and mouthed "I love you" as if to make sure she knew that no only did he feel that way but that he was just doing his job and he'd much rather go home with her.
Or maybe it was our friend's girlfriend who had to drive home to LA alone and return to being a doctor with no support that the wives receive. No one will be calling her to check on her, no one will be including her in holiday activities, and god forbid something happens to our friend, she won't be the one receiving the call or benefits because they're just dating. This was a significant reason for why hubby and I got engaged when we did. After the first deployment and the several scares that the noncombat deployment would become a peacemaking mission between the Koreas or India/ Pakistan, we decided that we did want to get married and soon. Just in case something happened to him, I'd be taken care of or at least consulted in some of the decisions.

Some days just suck.

How about my friend whose husband will be home for their daughter's second birthday but will miss Christmas...again because his orders just got bummed forward a few weeks. Or my other friend who is hoping that her daughter doesn't decide to make her arrival while her husband is away on training but hopes it's before he deploys. Or maybe it's my friend who still isn't sure where her husband will be stationed three months from now with the possibility that he may only be with their daughter a cumulative nine months out of three years. Or maybe it's my friend whose daughter will be about six weeks old when she meets her daddy during Thanksgiving.
I realized that there is no way to quantify who has it worst. There just isn't. Because for that person in that moment of leaving or being left, this is their reality and only theirs, so for them they each have it the worst.

Some days just suck.