The Day Has Come

The three months, which seemed like such a long time in February, went by lightning fast. June 4th Al reported to Litchfield unit for his deployment orders. We got to spend three days together at the Armory, meeting the guys he will be serving with and their families. (The picture on the side is of his squad.) The emotions in the air were thick and heavy. These are not just some guys from far away. These are our friends, neighbors, dads, sons, husbands, boyfriends, brothers . . . putting themselves in the harm's way. Makes me think back to all soldiers deployed in a war zone -- every single one of them is somebody's son at the very least. Every single one of them has loved ones waiting anxiously for his return. This is beyond TV, or media as a whole.

It was surreal. Feels like a dream. Like any minute we will wake up and life will be back to "normal." But wait a minute, this is now our "normal."

In a way, it was a lot of fun to meet everyone. The ceremony on Wednesday was very meaningful, complete with Governor Pawlenty and Patriot Guard in attendance. I did hear a rumor that an anti-war protest had been scheduled, but got canceled when they heard about the Patriot Guard. Yeah! The PG's are AWESOME! A couple of them were the young OIF veterans, home for medical leave after suffering wounds in Iraq. Another, a close friend, whose husband is serving in Iraq right now. Yet another, a mom, who recently lost her son there. If you would like to see the news coverage of the event, you can find it at: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=
E5A4F17AC157EB8DCA90221C96AB15D5?contentId=3419494&version=
1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1 and http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=
BF89A3DC7E11BE04B85532820DC8D898?contentId=3421713&version=
3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

and here is a slideshow -- even Al and I and Nat got on it :)
http://www.independentreview.net/node/1078

Well, we took the plunge. And it is definitely a stretch, a leap of faith . . . We talk about trust and faith a lot, but here is where the proverbial rubber hits the road.

Thank you to all our dear friends, who showed up at the send-off -- just by being there, you blessed us! I know that a lot more wanted to come and weren't able to, thank you for thinking of us, and for praying for us.

Check in often as I will keep updating this as much as possible. Right now Al is in Mississippi, going through some training before they ship out to Iraq, and is not able to publish updates himself. Howbeit, this is his site and he will be the one updating as soon as he is able to.