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Monday, November 8, 2010

the veteran's daughter

A couple of weeks ago Jason went and spoke to Bella's kindergarten class during community helpers week. For those of you that know Jason you know 1)he doesn't like being the center of attention 2)he was a little leery of what types of questions he would get from kindergartners. As a three time combat veteran he has often heard, even from adults "have you ever shot anyone?". He was really nervous about the little kids. What would they ask him? How would they react? We pulled up pictures and he prepared his presentation about what it is to be a soldier and how the army helps the community, our country and other countries. He made sure to steer clear of combat related information even though that is a ten year part of his army past.
He said the kids listened very well and asked a lot of questions.

He came home with a piece of paper from Bella's teacher. She asked him if he would return it with a picture of himself to put on their veteran's wall at the school. Jason as you may have guessed, was less than excited. He put the paper in a place where I think, he thought I would forget about it. He moved it a few times and even thought I did ask him about it at first, I eventually forgot. I worked last week. I have four children to get here. And there. I think Jason was perfectly fine and honestly, a little relieved that I forgot. He was counting on it.

Isabella came home on the exact day that I forgot about turning in the paper and asked where the picture of her veteran was. I explained that I hadn't printed a picture yet and she explained that she needed one. Soon. Her veteran had to go on the wall. She was so excited and so proud that I stopped what I was doing and ordered the picture immediately. I sent the veteran himself to pick it up at the one hour photo shop. He was less than excited about the public attention. But this one's for the veteran's daughter and the many sacrifices she makes for our country's freedom. This one's for her first year..
If you're reading this blog, you most likely know our story. You know that this picture is the first picture I took of Bella with her Daddy in nine months. He left when she was six weeks old, saw her two weekends after that, two weeks before he deployed in February and then when he returned for R&R five days before her first birthday. 4 weeks with her Daddy out of 52. This Veteran's Day, I'll remember our friends overseas. The ones that just left and the ones that just returned. I'll also remember the little people in their lives who sacrifice just as much,if not more, for our freedom.

"The Soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the Soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." Douglas MacArthur

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