He’s Coming Home

Yesterday, I received a call from my soldier son.  “Mom, I’m in Kuwait.  I’ll be home tomorrow.”

Hearing those words made my heart sing.  At the same time, I started weeping and couldn’t stop for 3 hours. I wept for joy.  I wept out of relief.  I wept for those who would never hear those words because their loved one would never come home – at least not alive.

I didn’t know that my son was coming home this soon. However, my husband and the rest of the world knew and they kept it from me as a surprise. To say I was surprised was an understatement. He had left this past June on his 2^nd deployment to Afghanistan and wasn’t due back home until sometime in the spring of ’12. But, since he had completed his command duties and transferred power to the new, incoming officer, the Army told him he could go home. Early.

I felt more ill at ease than I had when he left on his 1^st deployment.  Perhaps that was due to the fact that I had a better understanding of some of the dangers that he would face.  Or perhaps it was knowing that he was headed over this time with greater responsibilities. Either way, I had to accept the fact that he was going back someplace that no mother wants to ever see her son go – to war.

So there are 3 things that I am looking forward to at this point: 1.) Hugging and holding him…tight; 2.) Sleeping peacefully with the knowledge that all 3 of my “chickens” are safe in their respective nests in TEXAS! Daughter in Dallas – check. Son in Houston – check. Son in the Army at Ft. Hood – check; and 3.) Removing the “Blue Star” banner that has served duty hanging in our front window during both deployments. (A Blue Star indicates that you have a soldier deployed in a war zone. A Gold Star banner indicates that you have lost a loved one due to war. Ours has remained blue for 2 separate deployments over the past 4 1/2 years.)

So it is with a heart filled with thanksgiving and gratefulness that I write this. He’s coming home. Alive. Whole. He’s coming home.