" Stay Strong" ?

I can recall countless moments in those ever so daunting pre deployment briefs going over the important details such as OSPEC, mailing addresses, and how often we could expect to hear from our Marines. Words of advice and encouragement from fellow spouses and from my husband's command; things like "stay busy" and " stay strong" " you need to keep it together so he can stay focused and do his job." But what no one tells you is how strong you really have to be, and that holding it together is easier said then done. No one ever tells you that the gaping hole in your heart and the emptiness you feel on the first day of deployment never goes away. Instead you just learn to push past it and go about the day as if everything is just fine, after all that's what " staying strong" is all about right? I've tried and tried to find things to fill the void of my husband being gone, including starting a blog but nothing has made the sting of missing him any less or the ach in my heart any more bearable. Sure staying busy does make the time go by faster ( sort of ) but it doesn't make missing your loved one any easier to handle. When other wives would tell me to stay strong I thought it was there way of saying keep it together and pretend as if you're fine, now I think its a simple way of saying YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS, its not going to be easy but it is also not going to be for forever either.