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meredith

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” Jo declared fro

She sat at the feet of her oldest sister, Meg Jo’s long brown hair was unruly, as it alas She was irls who didn’t hog the bathrooers, the black polish on their nails chipped, picked at the frayed edges of the Afghan rug under her folded legs The hand-woven black-and-red textile had once been bright and beautiful, and I remembered when my husband had sent it to our house back in Texas frohanistan

In my head, my husband’s company’s FRG leader’s scratchy voice reo:base in Afghanistan, she would also necessarily add Denise was always on my case Co when I got it She said he could have sent it to the base and paid no fee

None of that irls Fro as e fro across the world for the past eight irls—particularly Jo—were excited to own such a beautiful, culture-filled treasure fro loved thathad a lavish handcrafted object in our sihter, but I always knew that if I tried to teach her right, she would use her love of shiny things to do soical and hile with her life A, and of course Beth kneas co Girl who could be trusted to keep the secret Plus, on a more practical level, since Beth was basically homeschooled, Frank knew she could watch out for it Later, he explained to ht ho as a surprise on our doorstep, rather than as a pickup chore on the base I’m not sure if I told Denise that, she would understand

Of late, our beautiful rug wasn’t as beautiful anymore Dirty shoes and heavy bodies had worn it down, and the colors blended into a mud brown that I tried my best to clean, but the color just wouldn’t come back

We loved it not one bit less

“We’re supposed to get snow in New Orleans That feels like Christh her brown hair It was grown to her shoulders now, and she talked Jo through instructions about how to ombre her hair so it looked like she had blond ends and dark roots It was so cold that year that the roads iced over, and it felt like every day there was a wreck clogging the only n outside our Ar track of the number of days without a road-related fatality went back down to zero nearly every day instead of weekly The highest nuot to was sixty-two

Thatdidn’t feel as cold as Channel 45 said it would be I wondered if my sister would make it to our house or if she would somehow use the weather as an excuse She always had excuses Her husband was deployed with mine, and their dirty laundry had been fully aired, left around in pieces, froroup of privates, to his sleeping with a female medic last month

“Did Aunt Hannah call yet?” I asked irls

The only one who looked at me was Beth, who replied, “No”

Since ed twice, er sister, but I couldn’t say I was upset when she ot herself a weekend bartending gig on Bourbon Street at a little bar called Spirits, where they serve ht-up skulls and ood personality for a bartender

“Is she co?” Jo asked from the floor

I looked at Jo, into her milk-chocolate eyes “I’m not sure I’ll call her in a little while”

Amy made a small hmp in her throat, and I stared at the blank TV

I didn’t want to talk to s I wanted the as possible, but to also be very aware I told the around the on around us I tried to explain the dangers and blisses of being a woot harder and harder I had to explain to thes would coood reason I had to teach them to defend the four daughters ages twelve to nineteen was not only the hardest job I’d ever worked, but it would be theto be that I was an Army wife; it was that I’d raised four reliable, responsible, and capable little women to unleash out into the world

I felt a heavy sense of duty; if nothing else in th proudly and their kindness openly

Meg was the princess of the fa to us only after two painful and soul-wrenching failures and finallyBut it’s not like when it happened, Frank and I were out on solasses of Yellow Tailbehind a desk at his co hard to stay awake Every hour he had to do a walk around the barracks behind the building He always seee of quarters (CQ, as Denise would note)

He hated when he had to do it, and so did the girls, but the Arht, I had to call the company phone four times before someone finally answered and corralled my husband Just as my contractions became unbearable, he made it home and we rush