"Thank you for your Service" Translated

Tuesday, I was in a store and someone passed a man in uniform picking up groceries. They paused and said, "Thank you for your service."

As that pit in my stomach came back, knowing my sailor will be deployed later this year (and it just so happened that he wouldn't he wouldn't be home that night), I had to wonder if people really understand what that means. I know when I said it, I didn't understand the full cycle of what that ment...

Thank you for agreeing to spend months away from loved one, often without contact.
Thank you for having faith that they will still be there, loving and supporting you, when they can't touch or see you.
Thank you for missing first steps, holidays, and last breaths.
Thank you for stepping in harms way for people you love, and for people you don't even know.

Thank you. Two simple words that mean so much - and remind me why we do what we do. Why we deal with the "I don't know when he's coming homes" and 24 notice of deployments. Why we deal with no contact other than something similiar between email and text messaging for months on end. Why we celebrate every day and often miss holidays.