My husband was in the Navy, so San Diego County became the place where our family learned how to wait. We had birthdays without him, dinners where one chair stayed empty, and phone calls that came at odd hours because of whatever schedule he was on. People see San Diego and think of beaches and sunshine, and yes, we had that too. But for us it was also commissary runs, school drop-offs, moving boxes, uniforms hanging in the closet, and trying to keep the kids steady when their dad was gone again. He missed a lot, and I know that still bothers him even if he does not say it. But he came home every time he could, tired and sunburned, with little gifts from places I could barely find on a map. This hex is for him, for our children, and for the years our family spent loving this country in a way that was not always easy or pretty, but it was real.