With it or on it.

Okay, so here I am two days from my blog post and for once in my life I don’t know what to say, so I’m just going to speak from the heart and see where it takes me. (By the way, after I wrote this, I had to amend, because of a big surprise I received.)

I’ve just spent the last two weeks seeing my boys off to deployment. My youngest is a combat medic in the Army. He flew out to South Korea two weeks ago. The other is a Marine, who has returned to Afghanistan for his second deployment. Both of their wives are pregnant. My youngest son’s wife is due any day with his first child.

There are few times in my life I have seen my son tear up. This is one of them. His duty assignment to Korea has become a “deployment”, which means it's unlikely he will be home for his daughter’s birth. In fact, they told him he may not see her for her first year, maybe even longer. This is one of the challenges our soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen face daily, the separation from those they love.

Please let me share this picture of my daughter-in-law when the bus carrying my son pulled up in front of us after months of deployment in Afghanistan. She hates it. I love it. It tells a story of love. It says more than I ever could about how you feel when your hero returns. Sometimes the picture speaks for you, and I think I will let it.

 

When our young men and women serve in the military, they don’t just risk life and limb, they give up precious time that they can’t get back. My oldest son was here for his first daughter’s birth, but he missed the first time she rolled over, her first steps and first words. Now, he faces the same situation as my youngest. His wife is also pregnant, with her second child. He too will miss the birth of this child.

I understand what they are going through  all too well, know what it is to be that soldier and know what it is to be the family member left behind while their warrior goes off to war. Yes, I was once that soldier, and I was also the pregnant wife, waiting for my hero to set foot on US soil again.

For those that have been there, you will understand when I say this. While your loved one is deployed, especially if it is into a hot situation, where there is combat daily, it’s almost as though you forget how to breathe. You hold your breath. When you receive word their plane has touched down in the United States, for the first time since they left—you exhale.

So, last night I went out to dinner with my husband and daughter-in-law. I'm sitting there, looking over the menu when someone comes up behind me in my seat and hugs me. I turn to look, and my youngest son is standing there in an Army tee-shirt and his shorts. I was speechless. My husband was talking with my daughter-in-law's father and wasn't aware he was standing there, until I elbowed him. This was an amazing moment, and I can't say how happy I am that he can be home for her birth. I imagine my face looked very much like Cate's does above. There are tears in my eyes as I write this. Yes, his duty will eventually call him back to Korea, but for now, he is here and I can not thank those who made it possible, enough. They are heroes too, and perhaps it's because they've been there too.

“With it or on it.” This phrase is attributed to Spartan mothers when they presented their sons a shield the first time they went off to battle. It is a phrase of great courage, not only for the one receiving the shield, but the one who presents it. It says we know this fight is worth the sacrifice. It says come home, but not as a coward, serve honorably. Come home the sons we raised you to be. Men of honor. Men with a deep sense of sacrifice. Men who are willing will give all to make this country safe for their families, friends and posterity. Come home heroes—on your shield or with it.
And so to my sons I say.

“With it or on it.”

God bless. We’ll be right here when you get back, but while you're here, we'll embrace you with all we have.

Mom, and US Army Veteran.

www.authordljackson.com