Love endures distance

by Rebecca Cooper
Arts & Entertainment Editor

For the last four months, I have been going about my daily activities in a zombie-like fashion.

I've been going to school, doing my homework and going to work to keep myself busy.

I've been slaving away at Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. I've also been mailing weekly care packages full of salty goodies, and watching my nieces more than their parents.

I've tried to smile and laugh and keep myself busy, but some days I feel like I inherited those bi-polar qualities from my dad's side of the family. It really scares me sometimes how much I take after those crazy people.

I know I had mood swings before, but lately it has been worse than ever.

One moment I'll be laughing and smiling, and the next I am cranky or crying at nothing.

I'm really lucky that my family and friends are understanding. If I had to deal with myself, I wouldn't be so caring and understanding.

I try not to watch the news or read about the war with Iraq in the newspapers or magazines. When people bag on our troops or make cracks about the war, I try to ignore them.

But once a day I give in and look online, carefully typing 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and CSSB-10 into various search engines.

I also look at the Marine Corps Web site, hoping to see a picture of my man. While hoping for good news, I mostly read about soldiers who are injured or killed in battle. I play the wait and see game, always hoping that I don't know the person.

What tears me up inside the most, though, is seeing all the lucky families being reunited with their loved ones.

I pray that I will be next and try to move on with my normal life, but instead I just act crankier toward my loved ones.

Then I realize that acting that way doesn't solve anything, and all I have to do is smile. When I am in one of my moods, or when I'm scared about losing him, I think back to last March ­ last spring break when I was reunited with my fiancé after he served in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan for eight months.

Then I think about Jan. 15, when he promised in that Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, "I'll be back."

He is currently serving in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and I know that everything will be fine.

He has been able to call me twice since he has been in Iraq, and hearing his voice or receiving one of those chicken-scratch letters has been the highlight of the last four months.

I never thought that a piece of paper or the ring of my cell phone would make me so happy.

Being apart since has made me truly appreciate having Shawn in my life for the last two years. I think about everything we have been through, and how happy he has made me, and I know that it will all work out.

It's been even more difficult lately with all my family problems and his being away, because the one person who I really need right now is half way around the world and in a much worse situation than I am.

Shawn being away has made me appreciate life and taught me to really keep things in perspective.

The small things in life make a huge difference, but then again so do the big things. So thank you my Shawn Juan for everything.

Rebecca Cooper, a junior journalism major, is arts and entertainment editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at spoildbeca@aol.com.