Currently Chasing: Life more ordinary

Before I left for Afghanistan there were things I loved to do. I loved to shop. I loved to get my nails and hair done. I loved to go out to eat. I wasn’t a huge fan of working out, but I did it so I could eat at Olive Garden on occasion and not end up a house. I loved. I lost. I had my heart broken. I was a big fan of the iphone and I was a master texter.

While in Afghanistan, not a lot changed. I still shopped. I was able to get my hair cut and highlighted. There were a couple of places to go and feel like you were ‘eating out.’ I still wasn’t a huge fan of working out, but did it so that eating the contents of 27 care packages didn’t make me end up a house. I loved. I lost. I had my heart broken. And I was still a big fan of the iphone. Able to use it with the afghan network and continue to text and check my email.

However, in between all of that there were other things going on. Rocket attacks in the middle of the night that you would find out later sent shrapnel through the face and body of a friend. Suicides. IED’s that left 21 year olds without legs and 19 years olds with broken backs. Young girls who weren’t allowed to read or write or get any kind of attention at all without the fear of being beat. Wives thrown in jail for trying to divorce their husbands. Suicide bombs strapped to children. Kids walking the streets , use to the daily sight of men with guns and convoys strolling through their towns.

I’m happy to say that I have returned with what are now 10 pedicured toes and 10 manicured fingers. I went to the mall yesterday to shop. I plan on getting my hair done ASAP. Been out to eat every day since returning…and have even managed to work out a little. I’m sure I’m going to love and lose and have my heart broken. And my iphone has never left my side.

I learned a lot being in Afghanistan, but I didn’t let it drastically change my life, and I kind of think that is the point. It’s not that I don’t appreciate what I have a little bit more, I do. For sure. But I’m not going to hole myself up somewhere and start living like a poverished person simply because Americans don’t understand how good they have it. Quite the opposite. I feel like I, and many many others before me have given of ourselves so that Americans can shop and get thier nails done and discuss Brittany Spears and Lindsey Lohan without feeling like they are part of an oblivious society.  

I never once looked at facebook and thought, wow, my friends are discussing a Tupperware party. How irrelevant. There are REAL things going on in the world people, and all you care about are flexible and extremely durable plastic containers? Really? WE ARE AT WAR! Instead I was thinking…thank God that is what they are focusing on right now. Because that is what America is about. The freedom to do what you want within the law. If you want to worry every single second about the war, burn your own shit to ‘suffer like a soldier,’ stop using fresh water,  start washing your clothes with a rock and a bucket, harden up your mattress, toughen up your meat and ‘appreciate’ your life, then by all means, go for it. But that is not going to make the servicemembers fighting for your comfort feel any better. They fight for one reason. So they, their families and their friends can ‘enjoy’ the damn Olive Garden from time to time.

I’m not saying live beyond your means, spoil your children and take things for granted. I’m simply saying don’t feel bad about enjoying your life. I may hug my daughter a little tighter and tell her I love her a little more often, but if she wants to tack up posters of Justin Beiber, play her Nintendo, talk on the phone, and obsess about what style backpack she wants, well that’s just fine by me. I’m not going to shove pictures of mud huts at her and tell her that kids her age are walking weapon systems in Afghanistan.

My experiences have expanded since my deployment, but I believe that we fight so that life doesn’t have to change. Now, did someone say Tupperware? I’m a sucker for those airtight lids.