Two years later.. The Wait Was Over

Today two years ago ended the worst phase of my life, the hollowest and wicked days that I shall ever have to endure or will ever have to endure. The days from February 24th 2008 until March 2nd were sheer agony. The thoughts, the pain, the sorry were all that I had really, there were faces, hundreds of faces of people, faces of loved ones, faces of friends, faces of complete strangers. They all drifted in and out of these days and they all had the same expressions, they were gray mostly shapeless people in a very dark time. The days were endless as well as the nights. There was no rest, there was no peace, there was only waiting, waiting for my son to come home from the war. There was no hiding, there was no running, and there was no escape from any of this. The night before was violent as the turmoil inside my whole self, thunderstorms and tornadoes filled the state, something out there was as upset as I was. The morning was here, overcast and raining, we all assembled for the trip to welcome our son home. The young trooper with the Air Assault wings, the Patriot Guard and the Motorcycle cops were out in the front of the house. It was time to make what had been so distant and surreal, very close and very real. We rode in the powder blue gray limousine out to the Air park and waited, there were hundreds of riders out there waiting. The thing that still comes to me is that there was almost absolute silence out there. The family was there at the Hangar most of them were along the parameter of fence making room for the plane that was due. A few crackled voices on the radio and the time was on us, the sound of a lone jet-engined plane made the announcement for everyone. I could hear the blood start pounding in my ears.. the plane came in to view and the wait was over… My son was home and there was no doubt anymore…The surreal had just become real.

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