A Reunion: Part I

Two weeks ago tomorrow, I got a phone call at seven forty-two in the morning. Jay was on the other end.

"Honey, they moved my flight up. Can you get me at Kansas City by eleven forty-five this morning?"

He was scheduled for five forty-five in the evening.

"YES I CAN!"

I dropped Madelyn off at school. I ran back home to give Audrey and Hannah a kiss goodbye and was out the door.

I made it to KCI in two hours and eight minutes.

Thirty minutes quicker than any previous trip there from Gramma's house.

I was sitting outside his gate for about ten minutes when I noticed people started trickling out of the exit door. I stood to watch for my soldier.  He was in his multi-cams. There wouldn't be a whole lot of soldiers flying in to KCI today, so I should be able to pick him out easily.

I watched. I waited.

I couldn't find him.

I stopped someone who was leaving.

"Excuse me, but were you on the Atlanta flight?"

"Yes, I was."

"Okay. Thank you!"

So he had to be there.

A UNIFORM!

I watched as a solder came around the corner and exit the security booth.

It wasn't him. But he was greeted by his four year-old twin girls. That was an amazing sight.  He hugged them so tightly. I was imagining what it will be like when my three girls see their daddy in just a few hours.  I noticed the mom was taking pictures of the girls with their dad. Then they turned to leave. He didn't even kiss her 'hello'. I thought that was odd.  I knew they were married. He put his arm around her when they walked away.

Oh! Watch for Jay!

So I brought my attention back to the people exiting in front of me.

Another uniform!

Nope. Not him. Weird. Two other soldiers in Multi-Cam on that flight.

Another uniform!

Not him either!

There were seven soldiers that crossed my path before I started getting worried. I was almost concerned that one was my Jay and that I didn't recognize him!

Finally, I spotted my SSG from behind the glass. He turned and smiled at me. The world screeched to a grinding halt around me.

It was about fifteen seconds before he could get to me. Fifteen long seconds before I could experience that amazing first kiss and be wrapped in his arms again.

I have done this many times before, and I can tell you that the anticipation of being reunited with your Soldier is greater than so many things in this world, and it only gets better every time.

Jay dropped his bag and just held me in his arms. We gazed into each other's eyes and we kissed. Everything just vanished around us.

Then we rushed to the car to get him home to our girls. We just couldn't wait to see their reactions.  It was Hannah's birthday that day, so it was very special for Jay to be there for it.  She was napping when we got back to the house.  Audrey was there at the door to meet us. She went right to him. She knew he was her daddy.  Jay went to wake Hannah. She cuddled and loved on him, too.

So precious.

It was time to get Madelyn from school.  Jay and I ran in together to pick her up. We got there about ten minutes early and she was on the playground with her class.  Jay walked up towards the fence to get a better look at his precious seven year-old at play.  She spotted him and went running across the yard.  The teacher noticed us and was about to blow her whistle.  Then she saw that it was a man in uniform and she stopped. After Jay swung Madelyn around in his arms and gave her a huge hug, her teacher told us that we can take her home early. She said there was no way to follow such a beautiful moment.

We had Christmas when we got back to the house. Jay got to see the girls open presents and he got to open his. It was so, so much fun. I just sat and watched my family interact, cherishing ever stinkin' moment that I could. I knew these next fifteen days would fly by and I wanted to remember everything.

Jay had a three day journey to get here. It will be a five day trip to get back to his camp, because of the time zones. I just pray that our time together will be enough to get us all through the next seven months.


*A Reunion: Part II will be posted at the end of next summer

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