TV news made me cry yesterday...
I was getting ready for work yesterday morning when a news story came on about a Seattle area sailor that decided to surprise his 7 year old son by showing up in his classroom after a 6 month deployment.
They showed the reunion and the little boy so happy and crying and hugging his dad like he was never gonna let go...telling him how much he loved his dad...and really really holding on to his dad so tight.
If you've never lived this experience...the pain of leaving your family behind on a 6 month deployment overseas then you really can't relate. I was pretty lucky, I only made one extended deployment like that after I became a father. But let me tell you...I remember it!
I remember my wife and daughters standing on the pier...my daughters yelling bye daddy...we love you! I was manning the rail...looking sharp in my dress blues...lucky I was far enough away that my little girls couldn't see big bad daddy crying like a baby!
I remember shipmates coming up to me later and asking...doesn't your family know how this is supposed to work...everyone's suppose to just leave...they weren't supposed to stand there and make me cry...or anybody else for that matter...and that's what happened...my kids made other grown men get all...as Mel Gibson said in a movie that's title escapes me right now...stop it...I'm getting all...misty!
It got even better on that cruise...half way through the cruise the ships wives club made a video...they had an Easter egg hunt or some such thing and sent us a video...there I was sitting on the mess decks eating dinner and my younger daughter was on the big screen...just as cute as always...until mommy told her it was time to go and she had to get off the swing.
She started crying! I started crying! I looked around and half the guys eating dinner were crying! Well...maybe they all had allergies...but I was crying!
So...next time you see a military guy or gal...think about this...think about how many of them could qualify for food stamps if they wanted to...think about how easy you have it...and think about what they leave behind when they go off to try to make the world a better place...
Now I'm gonna stop...I'm getting all...misty!
