Stuck in Purgatory

The other day during a conversation with my friend I realized we are stuck in purgatory. This is definitely not heaven and I believe hell has to be way worse. We all just feel stuck. Many of us feel like the forgotten pawns that were discarded during the chess game. We were taken out of the game when captured by the opponent and we sit on the side waiting to jump back in again.

We get up each day and spend another day here in the middle waiting. We're waiting for a VA disability rating, Nar Sum, new knees, another surgery, there's always something we're all waiting on. We all can agree waiting sucks. It's so hard to sit by and wait. When healing a wounded warrior, you truly are helpless and all you can do is wait. We're waiting for Chaz's body to heal so we can see what else he might need. Obviously this is something you cannot and do not want to rush. We are also waiting on VA paperwork, which we all know could be rushed, but I bet it would just get messed up in the rush. Since  we have to wait on Chaz to heal, then we'll just let the VA do its thing. 

Some of our friends are on their way out. Their stay in purgatory is almost over. Those of us who are stuck here are excitedly jealous of them. You see, we are so excited that they are moving on, but totally jealous that it's not our turn yet. It's a very interesting way to feel. I compare it to graduation day except I don't remember being jealous of anyone graduating. I remember how excited I was for them moving on to their next chapter.

So how do we cope?! We will throw them a "see you later" party and miss them when they're gone. But the most tragic news is that there is no shortage of families here. So our friends will move on and a new family will move into their room. We'll welcome them to this phase of this journey and one day we'll say see you later to them as we move out of purgatory.