Home.......

Homecoming was amazing.  That is really the only way to describe it.  And amazing doesn’t do it justice. 

As we pulled into the parking lot of the armory we could see all the soldier's gear laying in a line to be picked up.  We could see a few patriot guardsman lining the driveway awaiting the unit’s return. There was just an excitement in the air.    

As we waited outside we had a clear view of the highway that the buses would  be coming in on. Then it happened….. In the distance we heard the sirens, then we saw the lights, then the roar of the Harley’s.  The two buses of the unit had a patriot guard escort, firetruck escort and police helicopter overhead. 

Seeing the fifteen cycles lead the buses in and the flashing lights of the police was simply awesome.  It was a hero's welcome in every sense of the word. 

At one point as the line was driving up the street, I heard Syd yell my name.  I looked over and she was weeping.  She said to me “I don’t know what is wrong with me!”  I explained to her that it was emotion, and sometimes when we have so much and so many emotions flowing through us they have nowhere to go but to burst out.  I assured her it was OK.  Seeing her so overcome with emotion and pride, swelled my heart. 

As the buses were in clear sight, I myself, couldn’t help but feel my emotions release.  He was the first one off the second bus and we locked eyes right away.  The kids spotted him immediately and took off.  Syd just held onto her daddy like she was never going to let go, and Brock was simply giddy and so happy to have his daddy home.

Once I was in Major's embrace, I found myself weeping and I recall him whispering to me..."it's over."

Smiles at Home.......

Words cannot express what it feels like to have your soldier make it to U. S. soil.  Even though he is not with us and in our home, knowing that he truly is almost home is such an amazing feeling. 

...He left last Friday and for 5 days we didn’t know anything.  Was he still there?  Had he got stuck somewhere? All we knew was that he was leaving that day to begin the travel process.....

Each day I waited I did calculations in my head…”If he leaves on this day, That flight should be this long, There may be a layover in this country, and a stop here…” Only to have another day go by and have to recalculate.  This was absolute torture and I would say that one of my bits of advice is to NOT do this, but there is no possible way to avoid it. 

..."Major said that he would turn on his cell phone once he hit the states…

As I slept this morning, my phone rang, I remember looking over at the nightstand and seeing his picture on my screen. 

...Seven days went by and I got a call.  He said….”Hi baby, we are home.”  You see, home to a soldier is our soil....

There is no way I can explain the feeling.  It was just a sigh, a deep audible sigh. Even though he wasn’t in our home.  He is home in our country.

I didn’t have the heart to wake the kids an hour and half early but as their beautiful sleepy faces emerged I told them about the call, and their smiles told the story.  They know, they know the end of this part of our journey is nearing an end. 

Pride.........

Since it is Veterans Day, I did some thinking today about what my veteran and all those serving, past and present have given me.  It is sometimes easy for me to get down about being alone while Major is deployed.  Like many military spouses, It is easy to feel like I am doing everything on my own….but if I really take a look at things, there is SO much more to be thankful for. 

So here is how I see it....this is my simple break down…. We live in a house, we can work any job we want to, we can say almost anything we want through opinion.  we are free to worship however we wish.  We can go to the grocery store and buy a selection of produce and foods that we choose.  We can decide to disagree with our country’s leaders, we can vote or not vote for whom we want.  We can walk down the street without the fear of a mine or IED blowing off the leg of our child.  We can go downtown and walk around without fear of a group driving through lighting off assault rifles.  We can raise our children without fear of the government coming into our home and taking our son from us because he needs to be trained.  We don’t have to fear that our daughter will be stolen from us and sold.

Without our men and women in uniform, these things are not necessarily protected.

Of course everyone has their own political views.  Some people don’t agree with where we are in the world and details about the war.  I could care less if you don’t agree with the wars.  That is what our uniformed service men and women protect.  Your ability to not agree with it.

Did you know that less than 1% of our nations population serve our country.  So, less that 1% for the remaining 99%.

I can recall the first time my husband was deployed and my two year old daughter and I were at the grocery store.  She was wearing a tshirt that said her daddy was in Iraq.  A couple approached us and told us that Major was a baby killer for being part of the war.  Guess what.  I didn’t take offense to the comments….honestly I didn’t.  (What I took offense to was that my daughter heard.)  Because what I had was pride.  Pride because…..my husband serves this great country so you can tell a child in a supermarket that her daddy is a baby killer. 

In other places in the world that person could have been killed on the spot for having an opinion.  Or my child could have been taken and sold because she was wearing a tshirt that said something the govt didn’t like. 

So, support veterans, support their families, support the men and women who are and have served because it means that you can sleep at night in a house, can have heat in your home because we have an infrastructure that we protect, you can wake up thirsty in the night and go get a glass of water that isn’t brown, you can send your daughter to school because she is worth it. 

Happy Veterans Day to all those serving and who have served.  Thank you for what I have in life. 

It does matter.......

Sydney is part of a select softball team and she just loves it.  This year her team participated in a tournament at Halloween time where each team dresses up and decorates their dugouts.  The girls have so much fun with it and this year was no different….just a little more special.

This year, the girls decided that they wanted to show their support to all the soldiers around the world serving our great country.  What made it extra special is that the team played “for” Major’s unit.

Each girl played “for” a soldier in the unit.  So, when they decorated their costume, they not only had their last name on it, they put a soldier’s name on it.  Sydney’s jersey said “Earleywine FOR Earleywine.”  She was very very proud to play for her daddy.

They also adopted the unit’s slogan….”Soldiers of the corn,” and went with the soldier theme.  The girls looked adorable in their little soldier uniforms.

The girls played a great tournament but more importantly they had a ton of fun that weekend.

Each girl took it one step further and wrote a letter to “their” soldier and sent the letter along with a team photo.  Major reported back that the unit was really happy about it and it lifted spirits for them.  One of the soldiers forwarded the picture to his wife….and her response was forwarded to me…..it read:

“Thanks for the picture, and for making me cry this morning at work. 

That was a very cool thing for the girls to do!" 

Not only was the weekend fun, but I think of the impact the girls had and didn’t even realize how they were paying it forward.  They made a military wife, who was missing her husband, someone they don’t even know and will probably never meet…..they made her smile…….Now that’s worth everything.