If I could solve your problems

The colds are mostly gone, save for Evan coughing in the night. In my book, we're healed. Thank God. I'm also thankful that it's coming up on the last weekend in February. I can't take much more of this winter business.

I was thinking last night about the problems we've had in our lives. Things that were so awful when we were younger are things we'd probably love to be dealing with now--not finishing a paper on time, what should I wear to the party, I kissed someone new and now what, my boyfriend dumped me for his old girlfriend. Things that were life or death 10 years ago seem so trivial now.

Today it's things like my son has a neurological disorder, can we afford a bigger house, what do I want to be doing with my life as I near 30, am I really happy with my spouse/significant other/life partner (or conversely, why don't I yet have a spouse/significant other/life partner)? Everything carries so much more weight now. It sometimes makes me very uneasy.

I was talking to my friend last night, and she's very sad right now. Her boyfriend is in the armed forces, and just left for his second "tour of duty" in the Middle East. He won't be back for a few months--and he was there just a couple of months ago as well. She's sad, she's worried, and I don't know what to say to her. I can't begin to imagine what that feels like--asking her if she's okay isn't enough, and saying "he'll be fine, he'll be home soon" feels so weak. I can't help her, and it kills me.

I hurt for her, and for so many people like her that miss their loved ones every day. It really brings it home to see her this way, to realize exactly how it is when someone goes off to war. I think of my father, before I was born, going to Vietnam and what that must have felt like for him and his family. I wish I could do something to help. I want to go to her house, and sit on her couch and watch Ferris Bueller and feed her and just be there for her, but because of my own life I know I can't. But she was there for me during the hardest days of my life, and I want to return the favor. Sometimes it sucks being grown up.