Once a soldier, always a soldier
Posted on June 19, 2012 3 Comments
There’s something everyone should know about soldiers — they never stop being a soldier, even long after the uniform is retired. I wish I had known that before I married my husband. Not that it would have kept me from marrying him….a nuclear bomb couldn’t have stopped me back then. But at least I would have known what I was getting myself into. My husband, Sean, is intelligent, strong, honorable, and the bravest man I know….but he is also complicated, challenging, and — at times — incredibly difficult to live with.
You see, my husband has PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). And he suffers from depression. And he is an alcoholic. And an addict. And yet I love him, and the journey that we are on together is one of the most extraordinary that I could imagine. Many of you know what I am talking about. Many of you are in a dark world of mental illness and addiction and you can’t see the light. I have been there. I know how you feel. But there IS a light — my husband and I have found it, and you can too.
This is my first post. I hope there will be hundreds, even thousands more — and I hope you will comment frequently — so that we can begin a dialogue, a conversation…..a journey together as a community of families struggling with these tough issues. Walk this journey with us…and just see if you don’t begin to see the rays of hope that saved us too.
Sharlene Prinsen 