The Cost of Freedom
Posted Jul 30th 2007by Ebenezer
On my flight to CA, there was a sailor sitting in the row in front of me. I am always interested in learning more about men and women who are in the service. In some way I feel like I should be interested in who they are if only because of what they are doing – especially these days – for all of us.
Whether you believe in what we’re doing in Iraq or not is completely irrelevant. Our soldiers are there and they are fighting and saving and dying every day. Many of them leave families behind who are left to pick up the pieces and carry on with life as usual.
Watching this sailor from a distance while we waited to board the plan, I wondered what his story was. I wondered how long he’d be in the service and what exactly he does. I wondered if he had a family, a wife, children, a sister, a mother, a father….. I wondered where he’d been and where he was going.
He sat in the row right in front of me and as I eavesdropped on his conversation with the stranger next to him, this is what I learned. He was heading home to see his wife and his baby for a few days. The last time he’d held his child, he was 3 months old and now that same child is 10 months old. Compared to many who are currently serving, 7 months isn’t that long to be away from your family. But to this sailor it was a lifetime.
If you are away from a baby for even a month you miss a great deal of changes that happen over night. I can’t imagine a father missing out on all of that development. I can’t imagine a mother facing the challenge of caring for that baby on her own. I just can’t imagine.
What can I say? Being a mom totally changes my perspective. When the plane landed I heard him call his wife and tell her which gate we were pulling in to so she’s know where to wait in baggage claim. He was describing his bags (as if they’d get there before we did) and I could hear the excitement in his voice. It brought tears to my eyes.
I thanked God for that sailor and the sacrifice he and his family makes for our great country. I also thanked God that I had not checked a bag and would not witness the reunion between father and child, husband and wife.
My heart simply couldn’t take it.
tags: UnCategorized 2 comments
Awww, yeah that definitely would be a tearjerker sight to see. Happy, but so sad! That would be horrible to miss all that time. Jay’s dad missed a lot of his brother’s early life when he was in Vietnam. Fortunately, my dad was back before we were born. It’s so common but so heart-wrenching for all of these people to be away from their families for so long.