The war ended, we came Home, and the real battle started. You see it, you feel it, you think you understand it, bur you never appreciate it. You blink and the loss is palpable. You remember every disagreement that ended in compromise. You remember watching someone grow up in front of you. The soldier they arrive as, versus the soldier they become. The mischievous grins, and the moments of clarity no one ever sees. If your struggling reach out, and please check on the people you care about if you hadn't heard from them in a whole. The silence always makes me nervous because this world just takes and takes. When they have so much to offer the world, it simply takes. The Buddhism tells me that all things happen as they ought, and sometimes that's just not fucking good enough. The full lives I can manage, the shortened and abrupt I always struggle with. The laughs. The debates, the handshake and agreement to agree to disagree. Everything comes full circle. Life is so very precious, were here and we have a few laughs, and it stops. The real measure of one's life is their impact in the world around them. The sunshine and beauty we deliver to others, how we conduct ourselves in the hard times. It's not just that someone is missing as of yesterday, it's everything they offered that no one saw, but brought so much joy to those who received it. Bye Buddy, thanks for everything. I don't mourn the past, I mourn the time that was cut short, and how much more could have been given to this world. Now we laugh and trade stories in quiet. Full circle. Those talks no one heard but me, those laughs, those debates, the generosity from someone who has given so much already. It was great while never perfect. You did it your way. @BenjaminRuwan @BenRuwan #BenRuwan #ThanksForEverything #SeeYou #BattleBuddies #PTSD #Prevention #AskQuestions #GoneNotForgotten #611th #983rdEngBattalion #Iraq #Kuwait #Florida #RIP https://www.instagram.com/p/CjT7l0cDeOg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=