For as long as I can remember, navy blue has been my favorite color. Both my junior and senior prom dresses were navy blue. My bridesmaid dresses were navy blue. My bedspread is navy blue. My dishes are navy blue. Sometimes, even the highlights in my hair are blue. But lately, I have a new favorite color. Green. And not a rich emerald green or a funky lime green either, just green.
Green is the color that of the little dot that appears next to my husband's facebook profile when he signs on. It's the color of the tiny icon that appears at the bottom of my screen when he logs into Skype. It means he's back from a mission, or done working for the day, or that he's waking up to another Iraqi morning, having made it through the night without incident. It means he's about to message me, or call me, or even better, if he has time, that I'll get to see his face through video-chat.
Green might not be the prettiest color, but it's definitely the most appropriate. It's like my own personal green light. It means everything's okay. It means I can breathe again. It means I can go ahead and keep planning our family's amazing future, the one that feels like it's on hold until my husband returns, because as long as I can see that little green dot, I know he's safe.
There aren't even words to describe how happy it makes me to see that little flash of green appear on my computer screen. I start grinning from ear to ear and the sense of relief that overcomes me often leaves me close to tears, especially if it's been a long time since I last talked to him, or if his mission ran longer than anticipated.
It might seem like a small thing, and in the literal sense, it's a very small thing. A tiny green speck on a 15 inch computer screen. Almost nothing. But to me, right now, it's everything. And it's the reason that for at least the next 308 days, green is my favorite color.
We are the silent ranks. We each have a story. This is mine.
