Happy Veterans Day!

Veterans Day will always be a special day for me, well for us. It was three years ago today that we welcomed Trent home from Iraq! It was a LONG awaited day, one of the happiest days of my life. And believe it or not, this is the only picture I have of that wonderful day. The rest were on my parents computer when it died and I don't know yet if they survived :(
Seriously one of the best days of my life! I don't even know how to explain the emotions that I was feeling. One of my greatest friends, a friend that I made because of this deployment (she's the reason we are still married:) but really in all seriousness, she's the reason I survived that deployment. Her husband was also deployed with the 144th ASMC. So...back to my original thought....my friend and I got a hotel room close to the Air National Guard base, where the boys would be flying in early the next morning. We didn't want to miss a second of it! Well, now, imagine Christmas Eve when you were a little kid. The giddiness, lying in bed, not sleeping, giggling. That was us! We couldn't sleep. We got ready for bed, and were so excited that sleep just wouldn't come, we were talking, laughing, I think there might have even been some jumping on the bed. I think somewhere around 3am we settled down, only to be woken up an hour later by phone calls from our boys saying there were getting up to get ready to come home. I don't really remember all the details of the times of the day, it's a little blurry now, but it was amazing! I had left Carter at home with my family, they would bring him to the base in the morning with them. I got up around 5am to get ready. We had to be out to the base by 6:30ish, and the flight was supposed to land around 7:30 or 8. They were flying in from Ft Collins, CO. It took EVERYTHING I had not to drive out there the previous week when they arrived there for all their debriefings. The boys called us when the got on the plane, THEY WERE EARLY! Folks, if you're at all familiar with the military, that never happens. So onto the phones we got to let all the family know that they'd better hurry or they'd miss it! We got ready in record time, making ourselves as pretty as possible, and booked it to the base. And there we waited....of course they weren't early....the FRG (family readiness group) had bagels, and doughnuts, and other yummy food for us all. All our family arrived, and once again, I cannot even describe the feelings. It was electrifying. They opened the hanger door, we were able to watch the plane make it's decent, the feeling of it's FINALLY over washed over me. I was jumping up and down, holding my 14 month old Carter. The plane came to a stop, the door was opened and out came the commander waving a flag. One by one the soldiers of the 144th ASMC filed off the plane. Then came my man.....I booked it though the crowd. I've never been so happy to be in his arms! With Carter in one arm and Trent in the other, we were a complete family, together for the first time since Carter was born 14 months earlier.

Veterans day will never mean the same thing to me again. Years ago it was just another day, today I remember the day my veteran came home for war. Even as I sit here the emotions that I felt that day come rushing back to me. I never want to relive that day, but I never want to forget it.

Thanks to all those who still are sacrificing to make our nation free, and to free others!