You know you are a Military Parent...

[armyinfmom63]

Parent of a Military Member...If you find yourself peeking around the corner before you turn down your street checking that no military vehicles are parked in your driveway, and if you have nightmares about people wearing official military uniforms ringing your doorbell, ... you just might be the parent of a U.S. Military Member serving in a combat zone.If you put out your flag everyday and find yourself wanting to rip the face off anyone who disrespects that symbol of our freedom, ... you just might be the parent of a U.S. Military Member.If you feel guilty for wishing your son would get 'injured just a little bit' because that would mean he would be safe and comfortable in a hospital for a few weeks,... you might be the parent of a deployed U.S. Military Member.If you get really mad at the ignorant idiots who insist that all this fighting is just not necessary and that the world would be at peace if the US would just mind its own business,... you just might be the parent of a U.S. Military Member whose life is on the line to protect the freedoms that these thankless bums take for granted.If you negotiate with God every night before bed and the first thing every morning that if he will just bring your son or daughter home safe, you will do absolutely anything,...then you are the parent of a U.S. Military Member stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan.If you deliberately keep yourself very busy, every minute, every day for the sole purpose of distracting yourself from thinking that at that very moment someone, somewhere on the other side of the planet is shooting at your child... you just might have a U.S. Military Member in a combat zone.If your shopping cart contains tuna fish, beef jerky, foot powder, Chapstick, playing cards, disposable shavers, car magazines, a pre-paid phone card and small children's toys,... you just might be the parent of a U.S. Military Member who is spending a lot of his time patrolling the streets of Iraq.If your son or daughter is halfway around the world fighting in 140 degree heat with 50 lbs of equipment on their back to preserve our country's freedom while your neighbor's smartass 20-year-old mouths off about our stupid military and you find you have to restrain yourself from slapping the crap out of him,... you must be the parent of a U.S. Military Member.If you feel like an extraordinarily good mother because you know that you would sell your very soul, right now, to buy just one hug from your deployed Soldier,... know that you are actually only the average U.S. Military Member Mom.If you get calls at 3:00 am and barely recognize the voice of the child you raised between his satellite-delayed comments and then can't get back to sleep because you can't stop analyzing every word he said and kicking yourself for forgetting the things you tried to remember to ask, ... you are the parent of a U.S. Military Member who is far from home.If you have memories of a tough, but precious little boy with a dirt-smeared face who idolized He-Man, always had a 'sword' in his belt, and a plastic knife in his boot and later played hockey or football (and definitely paintball) and now has a very pretty girlfriend, ... you just might have raised a U.S. Military MemberIf you are someone who hasn't penned a hand-written letter since the day email was invented, but now cranks them out daily, ... you just might be the parent of a U.S. Military MemberIf your vehicle displays a yellow ribbon AND a red, white and blue ribbon, a " U.S. Military Member Mom" license plate holder and an American flag sticker, ... you just might be the parent of a U.S. Military Member