Returning Home

I learned something on my birthday this year that I should have always known, and it's something we as Americans should all get. I learned just how much our men and women in the services give up for us. I'm going to share it with you in pictures, and hopefully my words provoke you to look at these images and see deeper. I know that somehow as citizens of this awesome country we can easily forget that our freedoms have been paid for at a cost. They are also held onto at a cost. There are many that maintain these for us. Some within our infrastructure, such as our beloved politicians (don't throw your tomatoes at me!) our policemen, teachers, and our amazing medical fields to name a few. They keep our country running on so many levels... but it is our soldiers who maintain our walls~ yes we have them, figuratively at least.

My story begins with two cute little high school kids who fell for each other as sophomores. Elaine remembers Anthony tagging along to all her softball games and how he cheered her on. His goofiness was matched by hers. They were twitterpated. In 2003 they both graduated from Southridge High School, in Kennewick Wa. Anthony joined the Navy following high school and it didn't take them long to realize that they should sail off into the sunset together~ sorry. I took some liberties with that, but you get it right?! He joined the Navy. If you didn't get it I'm sorry but I can't explain it anymore... Okay, so back to the story, in 2004 they got married. Six years later they had Tristan, then Zachary two years after that, and then just 16 months ago sweet little Emery.

Just after Emery was six months old, Anthony was deployed to Erbil, Iraq. He served overseas, 20 days shy of a year. While he was away, I watched Elaine come and go as she dropped off Tristan and Zachary off at school, carrying Emery as she did. She never looked frazzled. She always had a smile. I know that somedays were harder than others~ but from an outsiders perspective she made it all look so easy!! Like I have no excuses for myself ;) I'd check in with her often, and she always just had the sweetest attitude about it, she was counting down the days until his return~ but not taking living in the moment for granted either!

When Elaine approached me about capturing Anthony's return, she had no idea that Anthony, Shanna, Betty, and Craig were going to turn the surprise on her. James and I were all in! James is a veteran, he served in the Army, so he gets "it". The "it" is the complete sacrifice that this family~ and many like them, make daily for all of us. For those of us who pass by the word sacrifice without really getting what it means, I looked it up. Good old Webster's defines it as offering of something precious; surrendering of something for the sake of something else. Sometimes the day to day things these soldiers surrender to us go overlooked. I'm going to chalk it up to be desensitized in our technology driven world; but we need a wake up call. These soldiers give up our most precious thing. Time. So much time. Anthony's whole family just gave up a year of their time together. He gave up watching Emery walk for the first time. Cuddling his wife at night. Wrestling with his boys. Dinners, hangouts, and a comfortable everything. It was a gift given for US. All of us.

Back to the story at hand... The day unfolded with Anthony's connecting flight to Pasco being missed, shifting plans and making the long wait of coming home stretched out even more in the final hours... gosh I felt so bad for Anthony! All he wanted was to be HOME! Here he was having more of his time taken away from his family. When you see Elaine's face as she see him~ you can see the cost. There was so much joy, relief, and confusion in that moment. Then there are the little things you worry about as a wife~ like Elaine worrying about her hair, how she was going to have a special outfit on, and how her makeup wasn't fresh. Then in the next moment you see that none of that matters. You see that home is right there in that embrace. Gosh it was so hard to get one single picture. I was crying so hard I was shaking as I watched my friends re-unite. It was beautiful!!

Next Elaine had to go get her Mom, Ronda, who was waiting in the car with Emery, because they were just there to help Craig, Anthony' s friend with selecting a present for his wife. This is where the day unfolds and I see that this sacrifice the Moore's have given to all of us is so precious beyond words. They gave up what I try so desperately to stop. Time. Almost a year. Time where Anthony would play with and watch Emery take her first steps, say her first words, and rely on Dad to comfort her. They gave this up for us freely. Sure he got to talk to them with our wonderful technology. But does that make up for lost snuggles? Tickles? Smooches? Ugh. My heart hurt on a whole different level. I wanted to apologize. This sacrifice they give with these huge smiles and a shrug of the shoulders because that just goes with the job was too much for me. Seeing Emery not understand that this man before, this uniformed hero, was her sweet Daddy that she should go to. The fact that Anthony had apparently prepared for and expected her reaction to him broke my heart further. They give so much. I am forever thankful.

Later that night Anthony and Craig had figured out how to surprise Tristan and Zachary at our local hockey teams game. The announcer would randomly select the boys for a game during the intercession and then Anthony would be their prize for winning when he couldn't find any signed hockey pucks. It was a sweet reunion!! The boys had to ask Elaine if that was really him?!? Oh my stinkin heart. These boys had just the most confused yet hopeful faces! So so precious!!

I wish we would have known the correct spot you were coming out Anthony! I feel a little like I let you down in catching every sweet second of this reunion...

I know that I still can't fully grasp the complete sacrifice your family has given to all of us. Watching Elaine all these months I can see it just a little. Not because she complains. Because she just does. She made the world keep turning for her family. She smiled when Emery had long nights and she was sleep deprived. She played with her boys. She made all the meals. She fixed all the things. She did the work of a single Mama. Which is so hard. She did that while missing her honey. Missing the companionship. The backup in the fight that parenting sometime is. She couldn't tap out and escape to Target. No complaints from her though. They just surrender those beautiful things- for us.

Then these precious kiddos. How much did they just give? Maybe you're saying it's not their choice. That they don't willingly sacrifice. It's true. But. They are instead going to get it. These are the young faces who I believe will know what the sacrifice meant because they watched it, gave it, and lived it out. They saw their Mom daily doing the things. They saw how to function in pouring out your life. They talked to their Dad and watched him go and do what he signed up for- with honor. Without complaining. Just in the doing. Living out their normal the best they could through FaceTime and through phone calls. What a precious gift they all gave... with some tears shed in private I'm guessing- but in the face of those who are watching just with smiles.

The fact that you give your time away in service to all of us is so humbling. The fact that you are raising your children to know that the world needs men and women willing to sacrifice their time, their family life, their homes to serve the greater good is what I hope to instill in my own children. What you gave matters. What you continue to give matters. I know that you will shrug that off. But seriously. It matters. You and yours, and the other soldiers holding the line matter. We are forever grateful. I know that me saying that doesn't carry much weight. But I thank you on behalf of my children. Because of men and women like you I think our freedoms will be passed down to them. I am sure that your hope is in that for Tristan, Zachary, and Emery. They couldn't have better examples than you and Elaine. I'm honored to call you friends! Love you guys so much!! THANK YOU!!!

Special thanks to the Tri-City Americans for supporting this surprise! It's a fun night out for the family for sure!