Just a Piece of Paper

Just a piece of paper - that's how I referred to it. The official notification for my March 2010 deployment to Baghdad. It sat on my desk Monday. And Tuesday. Wednesday I was called into an office and asked why I hadn't signed it yet.

Instead of getting around to the pile of administrative formalities, this piece of paper and everything it represented was now singled out and staring me in the face.

Six months without.

Tears rolling down my face I signed.

I wrote my husband. He called me immediately.