He's home

Since this is my first real post, I should tell everyone a little bit about me. As it says at the top of the page, I'm a military mom/daughter. My father was a Marine during WWII who fought on the islands in the Pacific. He fought on Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima (where he was wounded). I grew up listening to his stories and learned to have a great love and respect for anyone in the military. Dad's always been my hero...... and he always will be.

I've been happily married to the same guy forever and have three grown sons. I couldn't be any prouder of them or love them any more than I do. The oldest, Rick, is a shy, thoughtful guy with a quiet demeanor and gentle nature. Animals love him and warm up to him in a hurry because of that. He is the computer guy in the family and works in wireless Internet. The younger two chose the military. The middle one, Kevin, has been a flight-line jet mechanic in the Air Force for 7 1/2 years and has worked on a variety of planes ranging from the giant B-52 to the hotshot F-15. He's currently stationed at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska, and loves it there. He's always been a bit of a polar bear, so the weather just makes him want to go skiing or snowmobiling. The baby boy, Seth, joined the Army 3 years ago and graduated from basic/AIT (artillery) the day after the war in Iraq started. We watched the opening minutes of the war from a hotel room near Fort Sill when we went to his graduation. He went directly from graduation to spending a year in South Korea, and has been back in the states at Fort Hood for a year and a half...... long enough to fall in love and get married this summer. Now, he is readying to deploy to Iraq the first part of December.

That pretty much brings us to this post. My baby boy is home on leave...... :) I hadn't seen him in a month, and the first thing I had to do when he got here was squeeze the livin' daylights out of him. He understands my need for that and just grins and bears it. He'll be catching up with friends and family for the next week and a half before he has to report back to Hood. I just know that it's good to see his face again...... it has been too long...... phones are great, but not the same as face to face. He'll be able to come home one more time at Thanksgiving before he deploys...... yay. Kevin will be coming in from Alaska for the holiday, too, and Rick is here, so it will be "home, sweet home" for a few days. All my boys will be home, at least for a short time.

As it gets closer to the time for Seth to deploy, it gets harder and harder to keep my emotions in check. One day I'll be talking to an old friend, catching up on family stuff, and will tell her about his upcoming deployment with a smile on my face. The next day I'll be e-mailing a friend, just mention Seth in the e-mail, and burst into tears. A good friend told me that it would be a roller coaster ride of emotions for the next year...... he was right. And I hope this particular friend won't mind if I unload on him sometimes when I need to talk to someone...... you see, he's been there and done that...... Iraq, that is...... and talking to him brings me some peace of mind. In the meantime, I hug Seth every chance I get...... :)