A third of my life

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

Today I was talking on the phone with a man who is buying a car from us. He mentioned his 14 year old daughter and I countered with my seven and four year old children.

"You have kids that young?"

"Yeah."

"How old are you?"

"Thirty."

"Oh, I just assumed you were older than that," he said despite my youthful voice, "because your husband is a veteran."

I get that a lot. People assume that all disabled veterans are old men. They are stooped and withered. They limp. They have seen things most people in this country will never see and they have high blood pressure, but they are not all old.

My husband, not yet 30, has spent almost 8% of his life in combat. He spent 20% of his life in the Army. The longer he lives, the smaller those percentages become, but those years define his life.