Memorial Day 2006
He's home!!! He's home for Mid-tour leave only, but home nonetheless. Okay, right NOW he is in Jacksonville with the lovely Maria, but he comes back with her tomorrow. We will be having a family cook-out to celebrate his being here.
Among the things we will celebrate: 1) our soldier home if only for a short time, safe, sound, hale and hearty and his smart-alecky self!!; 2) for me - gratitude for his well being and for the sacrifices - large and small - of all our service members and vets.
Speaking of which, I had the privilege of going with my soldier/son to his Elementary school the other day. One of his former teachers is "another mother" of his. "Mama P," as he calls her, is the mother of his best friend since they were 3 year olds. Her class has been writing him and praying for him and we went to the school to play "20 Questions" for them. They are 4th graders and had plenty of questions. The boys mostly were interested in weaponry and such although remember, these are 4th graders and many of their perceptions originate from movies - oh wait - many of us have perceptions about any and everything that originate from movies!! They had many more than 20 questions to ask including "How long did you go without a shower?" {answer; 1st tour - 3 MONTHS!!} "did you ever shoot a tommy-gun?" {A - that is a WW2 era weapon; no} "What was the scariest, most dangerous thing you did?" {A - Stepping on a mine. I knew as soon as I did -{the wrong area had been cleared!) and froze in place until they deactivated the thing.} His favorite question there made him laugh - "Since you have a buzz cut, what color is your hair?" that would be, in his words "dirty blonde"
When we were at the Jeweler's prior to going to the school they had a few questions for him also! I cannot tell you how very proud of him it made me to hear him tell them; "We need to be there. It doesn't matter whther we should have or should not have been there to begin with. If we were to leave now we would be back in 10 years or so. If I have to be there again so that my kids don't have to go - well fine, I'll gladly do it so they don't have to go - and I don't even have kids yet!"
He harrasses me constantly, this child of mine. It is affectionate and humorous and it is not merely harrasment. He listens to his mother and takes what I have to say to him in. He knows he can trust me to be for him, to help him without taking over, to put his interest and well being first when that is where they should be. He was giving me a hard time about my mattress. I have a sleep number bed (I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!) and he is asserting that I should get a tempur-pedic bed instead since I don't sleep well. I am quite happy with the Select Comfort choice I made, thank you very much. I let him argue his case and just let that flow right past me. I cannot tell him, son - I don't sleep well primarily because of YOU!! I will not put that on him - I wake up in the middle of the night because I worry about him - half a world away in such heat, such danger even here in this his second deployment when things are generally better for him by FAR than they were on his first tour. That doesn't matter. He is in danger regardless and if I have to force myself to unclench my jaw to fall asleep in the first place, if I have to wake up and pray multiple times every night - so be it. And I will not worry this son of mine with my worry.
For every mother of a soldier - service member of any branch, we will always worry and pray and lose sleep. Because each of you is every mother's son (or daughter) and I keep you all in my prayers. Thank you and God bless and keep each of you.
Among the things we will celebrate: 1) our soldier home if only for a short time, safe, sound, hale and hearty and his smart-alecky self!!; 2) for me - gratitude for his well being and for the sacrifices - large and small - of all our service members and vets.
Speaking of which, I had the privilege of going with my soldier/son to his Elementary school the other day. One of his former teachers is "another mother" of his. "Mama P," as he calls her, is the mother of his best friend since they were 3 year olds. Her class has been writing him and praying for him and we went to the school to play "20 Questions" for them. They are 4th graders and had plenty of questions. The boys mostly were interested in weaponry and such although remember, these are 4th graders and many of their perceptions originate from movies - oh wait - many of us have perceptions about any and everything that originate from movies!! They had many more than 20 questions to ask including "How long did you go without a shower?" {answer; 1st tour - 3 MONTHS!!} "did you ever shoot a tommy-gun?" {A - that is a WW2 era weapon; no} "What was the scariest, most dangerous thing you did?" {A - Stepping on a mine. I knew as soon as I did -{the wrong area had been cleared!) and froze in place until they deactivated the thing.} His favorite question there made him laugh - "Since you have a buzz cut, what color is your hair?" that would be, in his words "dirty blonde"
When we were at the Jeweler's prior to going to the school they had a few questions for him also! I cannot tell you how very proud of him it made me to hear him tell them; "We need to be there. It doesn't matter whther we should have or should not have been there to begin with. If we were to leave now we would be back in 10 years or so. If I have to be there again so that my kids don't have to go - well fine, I'll gladly do it so they don't have to go - and I don't even have kids yet!"
He harrasses me constantly, this child of mine. It is affectionate and humorous and it is not merely harrasment. He listens to his mother and takes what I have to say to him in. He knows he can trust me to be for him, to help him without taking over, to put his interest and well being first when that is where they should be. He was giving me a hard time about my mattress. I have a sleep number bed (I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!) and he is asserting that I should get a tempur-pedic bed instead since I don't sleep well. I am quite happy with the Select Comfort choice I made, thank you very much. I let him argue his case and just let that flow right past me. I cannot tell him, son - I don't sleep well primarily because of YOU!! I will not put that on him - I wake up in the middle of the night because I worry about him - half a world away in such heat, such danger even here in this his second deployment when things are generally better for him by FAR than they were on his first tour. That doesn't matter. He is in danger regardless and if I have to force myself to unclench my jaw to fall asleep in the first place, if I have to wake up and pray multiple times every night - so be it. And I will not worry this son of mine with my worry.
For every mother of a soldier - service member of any branch, we will always worry and pray and lose sleep. Because each of you is every mother's son (or daughter) and I keep you all in my prayers. Thank you and God bless and keep each of you.
posted by Infantryman's Mom at
8:32 AM
1 Comments:
Gratitude--a lot of it--to both you and your son, one mother to another.--best regards, Kay Day
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