A much needed time with friends!

Tomorrow morning, Saturday, I'm going to spend 5ish hours with a few friends! I kinda have my own line of greeting cards. But tomorrow, my cards will be a bit more simple, but hopefully received with a smile. I'm making cards to send to the troops. This is my input to the box that will be sent to them.

I decided to write a few things to put on cards that I have embossing folders for...a key and a clock. I had to step into the mind of a solider, thinking what they'd say to their spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, daughter, son, parents...

I'm surrounded by the military from just one man...my dad. When he came home from Vietnam, he, along with all the other guys, got spit on and booed. Such a disgrace to the heroes who fought for those peoples freedom. I can imagine where the bitterness and anger comes from. And why they suffer with PTSD. I've heard that roughly 22 veterans kill themselves a day; one every 65 seconds. It's so sad to me that what those men fought for, went unnoticed for years by those who chose to hate instead of love.

My dad suffers with PTSD. So do I. Not on the same level, but I suffer with it on a daily basis. There are days I want to be alone. There are days I want to be held and other days I don't want to be held or touched. I have a lot of triggers about my past. People say we shouldn't live in the past. I agree. But what about when we do? The triggers the military live with and the triggers I live with, aren't about present time; it's from the past. My dad can't watch fireworks anymore. I've seen him grow worse in this PTSD because when he was on the fire department, he worked with the guys who set them off at the fairgrounds. The slightest thing can trigger you it's like you're thrown backwards. Blackberries for me...a trigger. Whispering in my ear, a HUGE trigger. Rubbing my back...a HUGE trigger. Sometimes I'm okay with it, but when I'm not, my skin crawls and my stress level goes through the roof. I can understand the PTSD the military deals with every day.

This blog kinda went a different way than I thought it would. It was going to be a short one as well, but I guess I'm doing more thinking than not. On the way home from "work" this afternoon, I had my first thought in about three months about the book I'm writing. A scene for it came to mind and that made me happy. We'll see how it goes!

Well, it's 11:07 PM. I took my meds at 9ish and they're kicking in! I'm all packed for tomorrow! Now to sleep until my alarm goes off!

Have a great weekend! If you see a veteran, thank them for your freedom!

Jen