Home sweet home

On Thursday July 15th, we watched Max's plane land on a large screen set up in the gym at Ft. Lewis. He landed a couple of hours away from the post and they took a bus to where we were waiting shortly after landing.

The gym was filled with people, excitement, flags and anticipation. As it grew later, the small children grew more exhausted but fought to stay awake to see their parent again after so long. My child, at age 2, came for a couple of hours and then went back to the hotel with my mother-in-law because Max wasn't physically getting in until midnight or after.

I waited and watched...there was so much to see around me. Once their bus arrived, we assembled in this gym, facing the soldiers but were not able to actually see them yet. The partition that separated us from them was finally removed and there they stood, assembled in formation. I tried to find Max in the sea of camouflage but my father-in-law beat me to it.

A General spoke, someone sang a song, and then in an instant, they were "released," and came running to us, each in search of his/her family. I found Max and after I leapt into his arms, I snapped the above photograph just as he was saying, "It's good to be home."