MONDAY, JUNE 14th.

Day 400 of CPT Patti's deployment.

Let's let that sink in a minute.

400.

Four-Hundred.

F-O-U-R H-U-N-D-R-E-D.

One wonders: How much does one change in 400 days? What does 400 days apart do to a marriage?

What does she miss that I haven't thought of?

How does 400 days in a war zone affect one's outlook? How about 400 days spent worrying about one who is in a war zone?

But then...perhaps I think too much. I reread this entry from December 30th.

And I learned that spending 8 months without my wife allows my head to fill with notions and ideas that have no basis in reality. I was very concerned about what changes I would see in her, wrought by so long under such stress and conditions. I had imagined all manner of awful possibilities, and attempted to prepare for them.

But there is no appreciable change in her. If anything she may have lost a fraction of the presumption of good in all people - yet she is still far, far from being as cynical as most folks I know. So I guess I learned that the core of who she is is solid...she is who she is, and I'm just delighted about it.

I learned that being married to Time magazine's Person of the Year is a very, very cool feeling.

I learned that my real life with her is so staggeringly superior to my on-line life as a blogger that it is very doubtful I will continue to do this once she safely returns to me.

And finally, I learned that my cousin is right. You just don't forget how to kiss.

Let's hope.