Dena Nalls says it has been hard living without her husband, Spc. Charles J. Nalls, since he was deployed in March.
"Not only did they take my husband, they took my best friend," she said. But she added that her family and friends have helped her get through it.
"We just keep our faith in the Lord, and we'll be all right," she said.
Charles Nalls, 30, who has been in the Army Reserve since 1992, is in the 467th Reserve Unit, headquartered in Greenwood.
He was deployed to the 841st Engineer Battalion in Miami on March 8. On March 25, he moved to Fort Stewart, Ga., where he remains today.
His departure wasn't a surprise, and the two of them had been discussing it and planning for some time. But that didn't make it any easier.
"The reality really didn't set in for both of us until we were saying goodbye to each other," Dena Nalls said.
Since then, she has stayed busy with her work in the business office at Greenwood Leflore Hospital, along with other activities. Other members of her family have been helpful, giving her a ride when she needs it or just listening.
Friends at East Percy Street Christian Church also have been supportive, she said. "I think everybody has been good - my co-workers and everybody," she said.
She said Saturdays are especially difficult because she has one less person to talk to. She and her husband have been married for more than four years, and they were friends for two years before they started dating.
But she is determined to keep her spirits up for their four children, ages 3 to 14.
They are missing both a father and an uncle, because Dena Nalls' brother, Donald Carter, also was deployed. Sometimes they ask questions, and she tries her best to answer them.
"We sit down and talk about it, and I think they kind of understand what's going on," she said.
At one point, 3-year-old Chelsea said she would wait outside their home until her father returned, but her mother told her that was going to take a while.
Nalls said it helps that they get to speak to their father nearly every day. "It kind of eases their little minds when they get to talk to him," she said.
She and her husband watched television reports about the war before he left, but she has found that difficult to do since then.
She keeps up with the major developments - including seeing replays of the Saddam Hussein statue being pulled down - but doesn't watch regularly.
"I watch it a little bit, but I can't just constantly watch it," she said.
The progress made in the war gives her some hope that the soldiers can be returned home safely.
"I hope it brings everybody's husbands home, not just mine," she said.
