I hugged my boy goodbye, today...

My son is off to Detroit Lakes, where he will join his comrades on their trek back to Camp Shelby and then to Iraq. It never really hit me until I held him in my arms for the last time for at least another 15 months. But it was hard. Really hard. I told him that I love him. And that I'm proud of him. Doug wasn't his normal joking self. This time he was stoic. He knows what is at stake. He knows the possible dangers that await him. At the point that I released him, he was no longer a boy. He was a man. He was a soldier; steely-eyed, with a firm resolve. Of a human being I have never been more proud. I watched him drive out of the driveway, and went back into the kitchen to finish cleaning after the days festivities. And I wept.

God keep him.


(Filed under Heroes)