When the good Lord was creating wives, He was into his sixth day of overtime. An angel appeared and said, "You're having a lot of trouble with this one, "What's wrong with the standard model?"

And the Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, but must be called a dependent and must be sponsored to get on base. She must have the qualities of both mother and father during deployment, be a perfect hostess to 4 or 40, run on black coffee, handle emergencies without an appropriate manual, be able to handle flu, birthdays, and move around the world, have a kiss that cures anything from a child's torn Valentine to a husband's weary day, have the patience of a saint when waiting for the squadron to come home, and have six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands! No Way!"

And the Lord answered, "Don't worry, we'll make other military spouses to help. Besides it's not the hands that are causing the problem, it's the heart. It must swell with pride in her husband, sustain the aches of separations, beat on soundly when it's too tired to do so, and be large enough to say 'I understand' when she doesn't, and say 'I love you' regardless."

"Lord", said the angel, touching his sleeve gently. "Go to bed, you can finish that tomorrow."

"I can't," said the Lord. "I'm so close to creating something unique. Already I have one who heals herself when she's sick, can feed three unexpected guests who are stuck due to bad weather, and can wave goodbye to her husband from a runway and understand it is important to his country that he leaves."

The angel circled the model of the military spouse very slowly. "It's too soft," she sighed.

"But tough," said the Lord excitedly. "You cannot imagine what this woman can do or endure."

"Can it think?"

"Can it think! It can convert 1400 to 2:00PM."

Finally the angel bent over and ran her fingers across the cheek. "There's a leak," she pronounced.

"I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."

"It's not a leak," said the Lord. "It's a tear."

"What's it for?" asked the angel.

"Its for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness and pride!"

"You are a genius," said the angel.

The Lord looked somber and replied "I didn't put it there."