Saying Goodbye, for now

We had to get up pretty early to make it to the airport in time for Asa's flight home. We packed up the car and got Marley ready to go, as Asa said goodbye to everything in the house and made sure he had everything he needed. He started out driving, but quickly got tired and I had to drive the rest of the way while he slept. Surprisingly, Marley didn't sleep at all. She really wanted to, but the sun was in her eyes and she just couldn't relax. So, it took about 20 plays of "Single Ladies" for Emily to keep her content in the back seat.
I just don't think it really hit me at all that day. If it had, I would have been way more emotional when we were doing things like getting out of the car at the airport or walking as a family into the airport. I had read on an Army website that sometimes they will allow families of soldiers to come through security and go all the way back to the gate to see them leave. But with everything that had happened recently with airport security, we didn't know if it still applied. We had to wait in a line for about 45 minutes to get his ticket. The lady at the Southwest counter was so sweet and she gave us a pass for me, Emily, and Marley to go to the gate with him. As we walked to the security line with everyone else, one of the security guards pulled open the rope for the Special People line and let us through! So, that saved a lot of time and patience!

We decided to stop for lunch at this point and found a nice burger place to eat. Marley figured out she likes ketchup and ate it by the fork-full. We finished our lunch and the waiter brought us our ticket. As Emily was getting out the cash to pay for lunch, our waiter came back and said "The gentleman at table 101 would like to pay for your lunch!" We have never had anything like that happen before, we were completely stunned! It is things like that that get me really emotional about the Army. That guy didn't know if Asa had been to war yet or that he just joined the Army two months ago. It didn't matter to him, because just the fact that Asa joined the Army was enough for him to be thankful for Asa and show how important he thinks every member of the military is. It meant a lot to me, and I could tell Asa was just gleaming. He knows I am proud of him, but for a complete stranger to be proud of him is something he had never felt before. And I could tell it made him a little more proud of himself.

At this point, Marley's mood started to decline. We found the gate and sat there for a while trying to make her happy but we finally had to walk laps with her until she fell asleep. She passed out on my shoulder and she was able to take a 20 minute nap before something woke her up. I hoped that the short nap would make a difference in her mood, but it did not. I tried everything to get her to go back to sleep because Asa's flight was delayed and we had a while to wait. But she wouldn't go back to sleep. Emily took her on errands and we played more Beyonce videos for her, but we finally reached the point where there wasn't anything we could do. We just needed to get her in the car and on the way home so she could go to sleep.So, we gathered our things and Asa walked us to the turn to leave the airport. We walked as slowly as we could, trying to savor those last moments together before we left. We walked through the Discovery Channel store and looked at all of the Life is Good products they sell.
But then it was time to go, as we realized it was actually much later than we thought and Asa's plane would be boarding soon.But Marley just couldn't get past the bad mood. I knew it wasn't her fault and she didn't understand that this was her last chance to see her Daddy for a long time. But it still broke my heart that she was in such a miserable mood. We really couldn't find anything that made her happy. All Asa wanted was a kiss and a hug from her, but she would even cooperate for that. It still makes me sad. But he knows she loves him and that any other time she would have done it. So hopefully he remembers those times when he thinks about her!

I hugged and kissed him goodbye and then we all walked away at the same sad time. As we walked toward the security area, there was a small opening that everyone has to go through. There are signs posted on each side that say "This is the point of no return." For some reason that was so heart-breakingly serious for me, that I just fell apart right there. I walked though it without pausing, but it hurt.

Who knows when we will see him again. It could be graduation at the beginning of April or if we get lucky and he has a weekend pass at some point, then we could fly up to Missouri and see him then. But either way, it will be a long, difficult wait in which we miss him every day.