Coming Home
So I just packed up all of my worldly possesions that I have had over the last six months from my 5'x7' personal area.
It took all of about 15 minutes.
I am certainly ready to go home. I feel lucky both to have an amazing wife and family to go home to and to be able to go home to them. I stood at attention during a ceremony yesterday as a flag draped casket passed by supported on the shoulders of 6 grim-faced marines. It contained a man who was indeed going home to his family but not in the way he or they had wished. I didn't know his story; perhaps he gave his life heroically defending his friends or maybe he died standing in line at the chow hall where I was going to be when a 107mm rocket ripped through the sheet metal roof and exploded.
It seems sometimes that what happens to us is ruled by the unpredictable vagaries of life. Indeed three days ago I had finished flying and planned to go eat at the new chow hall. As I was waiting around till I got hungry a friend stopped by and convinced me to go eat with him at the old place a little bit early. Just after I got back I heard the unmistakable whistle of an artillery rocket sizzle by barely overhead and then a very nearby explosion. Turns out it hit the chow hall I was going to and killed one and wounded another 11 people.
I have more stories like that than I will ever tell, yet I get to go home to a wife and family that I adore. Thanks to the Father for allowing that. It's only a day away now, but it can't come soon enough!
It took all of about 15 minutes.
I am certainly ready to go home. I feel lucky both to have an amazing wife and family to go home to and to be able to go home to them. I stood at attention during a ceremony yesterday as a flag draped casket passed by supported on the shoulders of 6 grim-faced marines. It contained a man who was indeed going home to his family but not in the way he or they had wished. I didn't know his story; perhaps he gave his life heroically defending his friends or maybe he died standing in line at the chow hall where I was going to be when a 107mm rocket ripped through the sheet metal roof and exploded.
It seems sometimes that what happens to us is ruled by the unpredictable vagaries of life. Indeed three days ago I had finished flying and planned to go eat at the new chow hall. As I was waiting around till I got hungry a friend stopped by and convinced me to go eat with him at the old place a little bit early. Just after I got back I heard the unmistakable whistle of an artillery rocket sizzle by barely overhead and then a very nearby explosion. Turns out it hit the chow hall I was going to and killed one and wounded another 11 people.
I have more stories like that than I will ever tell, yet I get to go home to a wife and family that I adore. Thanks to the Father for allowing that. It's only a day away now, but it can't come soon enough!
posted by Jonathan Hassell at 09:07
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