It was so comforting and instantly saddening at the same time to hear his voice. He's stressed and worn down. They are literally a "small" team and are sometimes being asked to do "small teams" missions. This means something in Army terms. Bottom line: its a lot of hard and potentially dangerous work. I only vaguely understand it all. I'm limited by my own ignorance, the likelihood that J. is omitting stories that would throw me into a solid state of Crazy, and the static on the phone (often leaving me to guess what he's saying from the context of the conversation).
Last week they lost a Kurdish soldier; it was his own mistake.
He was firing his gun randomly and hit some sort of mine that blew up. J. didn't understand why this would upset me; he would never do something so reckless. "Yes, but how can you be sure you won't be around when someone does?"
We talked for almost an hour. E. got on the phone and even said
"Daddy." That made his day. Then J. told me a funny story about a
mouse that had been "tormenting" him and his roommate. This is why J.
is my best friend. He's good at calming me down with his humor.
As you may have guessed, I have finished two purses since that phone call. I'll show and tell soon.
Muley says
I’m so glad you were able to talk to your husband, and that he’s safe. Keeping his sense of humor seems like a good sign that he is able to put the horror of his daily job aside so that it doesn’t totally consume him.
I know you are worried every day for him, and I will join you in praying for him.
If I tried to make a purse, it would end up looking like a fuzzy slingshot. It’s good there are people like you with the talent to do it right!