A flag fluttered in the breeze where there hadn’t been one the day before; it was planted solidly next to a “Welcome Home” banner on the lawn of a house I drive past every day.
Circling around, I drove on auto-pilot back to the little house and was out of my car and knocking on the door before I could have a second thought.
“It’s my son-in-law. He’s coming home from Iraq,” said a smiling woman who invited me inside without hesitation. A child a few months old smiled serenely from his seat in a stroller; the child who had only seen his father once at his birth was about to be reunited.
Boxes filled the entranceway; clearly, preparations of some sort were taking place. “I’m moving out. My daughter and her husband need time to spend together, they need to be alone.”
This is what it is to be a military mom. You do what’s necessary to help your family through the tough times of deployment — then you get out of the way and facilitate a swift return to normalcy.
The woman beamed down at the child and my eyes somehow had tears in them. Happiness for this family, sadness for what they had missed; pride for their strength, their love, their devotion.
Welcome home, soldier.
Mom — job well done; thank you…both of you.
--Tiffany
Circling around, I drove on auto-pilot back to the little house and was out of my car and knocking on the door before I could have a second thought.
“It’s my son-in-law. He’s coming home from Iraq,” said a smiling woman who invited me inside without hesitation. A child a few months old smiled serenely from his seat in a stroller; the child who had only seen his father once at his birth was about to be reunited.
Boxes filled the entranceway; clearly, preparations of some sort were taking place. “I’m moving out. My daughter and her husband need time to spend together, they need to be alone.”
This is what it is to be a military mom. You do what’s necessary to help your family through the tough times of deployment — then you get out of the way and facilitate a swift return to normalcy.
The woman beamed down at the child and my eyes somehow had tears in them. Happiness for this family, sadness for what they had missed; pride for their strength, their love, their devotion.
Welcome home, soldier.
Mom — job well done; thank you…both of you.
--Tiffany
_________
Around the military:
U.S. Army members participate in a welcoming ceremony for Army Secretary John McHugh hosted by Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and presided over by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Fort Myer, Arlington, Va., Nov. 2, 2009. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen
Army Pfc. Adam Britt prepares to leave the mock Iraqi town of Medina Wasl during 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Divison's training rotation at the National Training Center. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jared S. Eastman
U.S. Marines prepare to move to a different fighting position after receiving fire during a security patrol through the Nawa district in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Oct. 15, 2009. The Marines, assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, were conducting security patrols to decrease insurgent activity and gain the trust of the Afghan people.U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Artur Shvartsberg
1 comments:
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 11/05/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
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