Picking up our soldier

The morning we picked up Asa from the airport was a flurry of excitement, stress, anxiety, anticipation, and happiness! The arrivals gate at the DFW airport is a pretty big deal. Soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq arrive there every single day to start their R&R. So, their first look of the United States in filled with veterans, girl scouts, boy scouts, church groups, and random volunteers. The families that can come to this airport to pick up their soldiers have a special
area to stand in.While we waited for Asa, we were the talk of the airport. People were commenting on how small Vivi was and asking if this would be the first time he met her. When I answered "yes," most of them told me they would "be watching me!" That's a lot of pressure!

It felt like we waited forever. One soldier came out first, so they got excited and started the music. The blaring, patriotic music, that is! But then it was 30 minutes before the big group of them came through the doors. It was so hard to wait. It was like this jump every time I could tell someone was about to come through and then my heart sank when it wasn't him.

But then it was our turn.




Oh, it was amazing. To see his face. To see the smile on Marley's face. To touch him and hug him and kiss him. I couldn't focus on anything else. It was the best feeling in the world, to have our little family all together.

He held Vivi for the first time there in the middle of every thing. I think she was confused and his uniform was a little scratchy, but she didn't cry one bit. She knew she could trust him.

We walked out through a line of volunteers handing us snacks, drinks, girl scout cookies, and cards. I felt like we were celebrities!
Marley was ecstatic. She missed her Daddy so much. I didn't really realize how much until he was back and I saw how amazed she was with him. The went right back to how they were before he left. While he was gone, I worried that things wouldn't be the same between them. She never really had the patience to talk to him on the phone. But I was stressed for nothing. She wasn't nervous with him at all. She was the happiest little girl in the world.

I couldn't have asked for more this day. It was completely perfect.

If you are interested in watching a video that the volunteer organization, Welcome Home a Hero, put together, you can here. And if you are in the DFW area, there are hundreds of troop arriving there every single day and anyone is welcome to come to the airport to greet them! Go to welcomehomeahero.com to find out more information!