Boredom is a slow cancer. Like the a thousand drops from a cavern ceiling it eats away at my sanity. The topics of speech are endless and yet we've already fallen silent. The sun rises and sets and I go on with my day waiting. Unpleasant feelings crawl into dark cracks where hope once nested. High hopes and even higher expectations crumble quickly in the face of nothing.

I've spent the last six months of my life in a small volatile country called Afghanistan. I've missed Christmas with my family for the second year in a row and will possibly miss a third. I'll miss the 4th of July. I'll miss my brother's first high school football game even though he never missed a single one of mine.