SABATTUS – No longer in the Army, Steve Caron goes to work every day and comes home every night.

There are no more long-distance “I love you” e-mails and phone calls between him and his wife, Katie. It’s a change both welcome.

“We really appreciate the little things,” she said. “The lazy days at home, meals at mom’s house. Every little thing is just a blessing.”

High school sweethearts, they’ve been together for 14 years, sort of.

They were separated by college and by his service in the Army. Then by his deployment in Iraq, 16 long months. He missed the birth of their son, Jack.

“We’ve lived with, ‘When will I see you again? When will we next be together? Four months? Six months? One month?'” she said.

They met on a blind date when he was 17 and she was 15.

“She was pretty,” he said. ” She was outgoing, the girl who had it all.”

She liked his looks and his “wicked blue eyes.” Soon after they met, she was hospitalized with diabetes. “I didn’t expect him to stick around,” she said. He did, and encouraged and helped her. “He treats it like his disease, too.” It’s one of the reasons she loves him, Katie said.

He was commissioned an officer after he graduated from college. They married a few years later after she graduated from college.

Stationed in Alaska, they found out she was pregnant a few weeks before he was to leave for Iraq. Her attitude: “We can do this.” She went back to Lewiston and lived with her parents.

Her physical therapist job and her pregnancy kept her busy. Knowing Katie was living with family “relieved a lot of my anxiety,” Steve said.

He credited her for being a strong person while he was deployed. “She was able to let me do my job and not burden me with things,” he said. “She supported me. That made me a stronger person. I’m so fortunate to have a wife of her caliber.”

She credited him with shielding her from worry. He was in Mosul working as a nuclear biological chemical officer and a platoon leader. “He was out there in the field, on missions. But he led me to believe he was sitting behind the desk,” she said. If she had known, she would have worried more. “He kept me sane by not telling me everything.”

A few phone calls “were definitely hard,” she said. “I learned afterward there were reasons behind that. Things happened he couldn’t talk about. They were too difficult.”

His time in Iraq was supposed to end after a year. As he and his unit were packed and ready to leave, they were among thousands of soldiers who were told their deployments were being extended. “They said, ‘We can’t tell you when you’re going home,'” Steve said. “That was heartbreaking.”

He called to tell Katie. “I was devastated,” she said. “I felt so sick. You go through a whole year, it’s like, man, I can’t go longer. And he didn’t have an end time.”

He came home in December 2006, four months late but in time for Christmas.

These days he works for the Veterans Administration in Togus helping veterans with benefits. “I love the job,” he said.

Serving overseas is a life-changing experience. “I don’t believe there’s a veteran who doesn’t return without residuals and find them resurfacing once in a while,” he said. “I’m very proud to have served my country.” Seeing how some in the world live, “you have a deeper appreciation for America and our quality of life.”

His love for Katie is deeper, too, he said. “Katie is my life. She’s my best friend. She has so many qualities I can’t explain. I fall in love with Katie every day.”

Katie says it was “an honor” to be an Army wife. “I’m so proud of him and everything he’s done.” He misses the military, she said. “But he’s safe. There’s no worries.”

There is a change on the way. They’re expecting their second child, any day. It’s a girl. They’re naming her Evelyn.