Looking back over the years

My son has arrived home to stay. Has it been 4 years already? Now that's an odd statement/question, because it's almost rhetorical. I mean I know it's been 4 years and while it seemed longer I still remember things like it occurred yesterday. I remember going to the recruiting station with my son as he signed the paperwork for infantry. I remember talking with his recruiter. I remember his recruiter coming to our home at 2:00 to pick up my one and only son to take him to the other side of the country. I remember looking at my son's eyes as they filled with water and him fighting back the tears as was I. I remember feeling helpless as I closed the door as the recruiter and my son drove away. I remember the letters my son wrote to me in basic and sometimes I laughed and sometimes I cried. I remember feeling helpless again. I remember when he called me that he was going to graduate but hung up the phone so he wouldn't get caught on the phone. Not sure who's phone it was but it wasn't his. I remember graduation like it was yesterday. I remember when we got the phone call saying he was going to war. I remember saying goodbye to him at the airport before deploying and the tears we cried together. I remember his heart wrenching comment, "mom, it's funny, we may never see each other again". I remember getting the phone call letting me know he was in Kuwait and then again in Iraq. I remember getting the call in the grocery store saying my soldier was back on US Soil Stateside. I remember the second deployment and all the emotions that went with that. And now my child is back home with me, well sort of. Lol, he's been spending a lot of time with his friends. I don't mind, he's earned that and I'm just elated he's back home.

I look at him sometimes and realize he's not the child that left his home 4 years 3 months ago. He's a man...ok with some childlike habits but he's a man now. More assertive and drove across country in a truck that I wouldn't want to drive. A big moving truck. He's thinking of his future and just plain thinking. He still has that sarcasm that I love about him. Well you have to have sarcasm in this family to survive. He has grown so much and has learned so much. I'm truly proud of him. Now I have to part with my deployment bracelet. It's a bracelet that I made from Italian charms that had his unit on it, name, the American Flag and some other items, but I never took it off while my son was deployed. Now I guess it's time to do this. I guess I wanted to wait and show my son that I never took it off.

Anyway, it is just weird how the day I longed for is here but while it didn't seem that long, it seemed to be forever. I'm just so grateful and thankful that my son has come back home. I feel bad for Cody Legg, Shane Duffy and JD Emard's family who won't have that feeling especially this Christmas. I pray for their comfort and peace that their loved ones are looking down at them telling them they are ok. I know this would be a terrible pain for me to bare if I were in their shoes. I thank God I do not have to know this pain. I pray for the other families whose sons and daughters are still deployed or going to deployed and could not spend this Christmas with the family. So I send Army Mom Hugs to all.

As this chapter closes another starts. While my son still has to complete the contract he signed with the Army, he will do so by way of the National Guard. That's fine as that's a little way into the future. Right now for the next few weeks, I have my son at home.

Merry Christmas all and I wish everyone a wonderful New Year!!!

Army Mom Out