A Son At War: part two

We walked into the main room of the armory filled with Soldiers, their bags and families whose faces looked like mine. They were tear stained or had that look that the dam was fixing to break. I had gained temporary control but lose it again as I look into the faces of all those loved ones whose hearts were breaking just like mine. I need something to do, I had brought some things to make this terrible gathering more pleasant so I go to find where to put them. This early in the morning there was bound to be coffee served so I brought flavored creamer. Do you remember the Calgon commercials " take me away "? Was it too much to hope for that flavored coffee would take our minds off the good-byes just hours away? We try to comfort each other with hugs and words of encouragement, the minutes tick by and the tears flow. We are given as much time as possible to be with our Soldiers, Bubba is roaming around the room with his camera trying to capture moments that are too quickly slipping by. My Soldier is moving through the room talking to different people and I am left standing alone watching with tears that I am convinced will never stop. Then I see one of my comrades coming toward me with open arms that envelope me with the understanding that only someone going through the same thing can have. She is my comrade because we share a battle faced by the families left behind on the home front and at this moment we share our tears and dread of the good-byes that are coming way too fast.

Then it begins, our Soldiers have to move into military mode. There are task to complete, list to check off, bags to load , formation and loading. Families are left to themselves as they will be for the year ahead, parents, children, siblings. Facing what they can no longer push aside, good-byes. I am almost in a panic to get my arms around my son one last time and trying to find one of his friends who did not have family there. "He has no one to hug him and say I love you " I thought. So I am frantically searching for him. He has already boarded the bus but the Commander calls him off for me. His face was confused and surprised as I wrapped him up in my arms. He was not my son but he was someones son and I couldn't bear the thought of him going off  without that last hug.

The bus begins to pull away as we walk along side trying to keep eye contact with our Soldier, waving, crying and realizing He is in Gods hands now. Families are left to console each other as we watch the tail lights of the bus moving out the drive onto the highway. The moment I feared has come and little by little those left behind head home to begin the year without their Soldiers.