Jay -- here's the rest of my thought from before...

This shows a problem in how the Church -- at least as I've seen it in the U.S. -- approaches the diaconate. We teach and profess that deacons, like priests and bishops, receive Holy Orders, and enter a distinct state of life. But in practice, the Church in many ways denies this by how she approaches deacons. So, for example, priests and bishops do indeed leave those things behind; they are expected to devote themselves entirely to the Church. But we don't do that with deacons. 

And I think this is partly because they are (usually) married when ordained. But the point I was trying to make was that the theology of this sacrament is, that once having received Holy Orders, the other sacrament of vocation is left behind. It's a fork in the road.