She hosts photo contests every so often - and today she opened one up for "Coming Home" photos to honor the troops ... I really thought I was over the year that Dan spent at Ft. Hood & in Iraq (Feb 2003 - Feb 2004) and could pretty stoically think about it now - but looking at her pictures made me get out the scrapbooks I kept during that time. Andrew & Anna were SO little ... I don't even know how we did it - but we just did. It wasn't a big deal at the time (well, it was a BIG deal - but I somehow naively took it more in stride back then). I know I survived mainly because of good friends like Amy (who has a WONDERFUL post over at her blog today). Her husband and mine were battle buddies as such, and they kept each other encouraged over there as we tried to carry on at the home front.
As I looked through the scrapbooks I saw so many things that seemed almost unreal, like it was someone else's life - but that was our life for almost one year. Dan kept a journal the entire year as well - and I have been working on transcribing it (for years now!) - and I am so thankful my children will have a small glimpse into the amazing things their dad (and so many others) did that first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom when there was no daily SKYPE (?) or phone calls, there were no fancy dining halls for the soldiers, there was no air conditioning in the 130 degree temperatures at first, there were 100-man tents for the guys to sleep in after many days of sleeping under the stars in the dusty sand. There was bottled water for baths and later cold water for shaving. We got so few phone calls that year that if Amy or I got a call, we were almost afraid to share that we'd gotten a call because the other may not have gotten one - but we had to share anyway because we were so desperate for news!!
Some of the fondest things I found in my scrapbooks was a card from the flowers Dan had Amy send me for my birthday (I don't think he's paid you back to this day for doing that, Amy!!!); I have never gotten flowers for my birthday before or since ...
there's an envelope with a hole cut in it and a hand-written message "NO SAND MAIL" because Dan tried to send Andrew some Iraqi sand (which is more like dust than beach sand, I guess) ...
there's a growth chart I kept of Andrew and Anna so Dan could "see" how much they had grown while he was gone (it was so obvious anyway!) ...
and my hospital bracelet from my overnight stay for acute anemia a few weeks before Dan came home ...
And the memories! Dan's Grandpa died around Memorial Day in 2003 ... a man who had a huge influence in Dan's life and who was very, very special to him. Dan couldn't come home for the funeral, of course, and I know it meant so much to him to have Rob over there who he could talk to about his grandpa as a way of getting "closure" and saying "good-bye" to someone who he loved and admired dearly.
There are a hundred billion more memories that I can't even begin to share, but I cherish in my heart. God was so good to us that year ... it was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to face and yet, thousands of military families are living this every day! We live near an Army post so the military is still very much in our focus - and I just thank God for the men & women willing to serve.
Just look at my babies - Andrew was 4 when Dan left & Anna was 2:
3 comments:
Oh, Conny...this brought back so many memories....and started my day with tears! There is so much about that time that I don't remember clearly, as if I wasn't really fully awake for the entire year. But we all made it through, didn't we, and that's what matters. It was certainly a year to grow--not just for the kids!
PS-thanks for the link!
Totally awesome. This Memorial Day I will remember all the sacrifices families have made for our freedom.
Thank you for sharing your memories.
God Bless,
Mrs. D
I don't even know what to say to your post, other than been there, still going through it and I wouldn't change it for the world. :)
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