Their whole lives

The last combat brigade is coming home from Iraq. Which is to say, the active phase of our war there is over. Still, some 50,000 troops stay behind to continue advising the Iraqi military.

Snug in my little Seattle cocoon, I've been almost completely removed from what's gone on in Iraq. I've read news stories. There was the occasional young man I knew three times removed who'd gone over to serve. That's the extent, though, of my immersion into the operation that's killed many thousands of Americans and Iraqis.

On the day I went into labor with Max, March 20, 2003, the headlines, in 120-point sans serif, screamed that we'd gone to war. It was all anyone talked about. 

I was in triage at Swedish hospital and the nurse assigned to me didn't have the innate sensitivity to keep quiet. 

I cared about sending people to war. I did. Even doubled over, clutching my swollen gut as contractions gripped me three in a row before easing so I could catch a breath, I cared.

But, I was bringing forth a new person and I didn't want to, couldn't bear to, hear about the ravages of the world as I silently grimaced through giving birth. Finally, from somewhere inside the haze of pain, I found my voice.

"Enough!" I said to the nurse, my husband, and anyone else within earshot of my curtained off room. "No more war chitchat. Please!"

They hushed. And I folded back into myself, hoping beyond hope we were doing the right thing by bringing a child into these times.

Later that day, after Max was snuggled in my arms, J. went out and bought a couple newspapers sporting the headlines I found so disturbing a few hours earlier. We still have the papers around here somewhere. Maybe I'll dig them out and show them to the kids. "Look," I'll say. "This war has been going on your entire lives. And now it's over."

Sort of.

Comments

[m]

Can war ever be "worth it"? I remember that day, very well. I'm glad our troops are coming home.

[Leslie]

I was in Seattle on business the day we went to war. I remember the big protests in the streets. It's hard to believe that is has been going on as long as it has - I'm also glad it's "sort of" over.

[kcinnova]

My oldest was born around the time that soldiers (and my Marine Corps brother) were returning from the first Gulf War. My youngest was in Kindergarten when his daddy went to Iraq. War is woven into so many lives.

[Lisse]

We headed off to Russia to begin our first adoption the day Bush went to war in Iraq. On our travels we would be travelling through the 3 countries who expressed the most vocal opposition to the war in Iraq - France, Germany, and Russia. Thankfully, everyone we encountered was able to separate Bush from ordinary Americans.

The Russian adoption process is long and involves two trips. On the day we came back to Logan Airport (Boston), Bush was announcing the end to major combat operations.

Nearly 8 years later, we are calling it over, but we still have troops there and probably will for a long time.