Homecoming
"Homecoming means coming home to what is in your heart." ~Author Unknown
I headed home early Saturday morning after several days of being away. I missed my family so much that I woke up at 5am, took a friend to the airport, and started the hour and a half drive in the darkness before dawn. The roads are nice and empty early in the morning, and the morning announcers on the radio are really calm. It was a serene trip.
There is something so amazing about driving toward home. The minute the car was on the highway headed in the direction of home, it felt like I was being pulled. My excitement for seeing the kids and Vic and the dog kept building. I counted the miles down and raced the sunrise, determined to enter my front door with the sky barely lit. My ultimate goal was to be home, drinking coffee, when the kids woke up.
Vic has had many homecomings, much more dramatic than mine. The first deployment, the homecomings for our Soldiers were huge productions. All of the families were notified when a flight of Soldiers was returning and they were instructed to meet at the designated hangar. There, we had bleachers to sit on, music and video's piped in and refreshments while we waited for the Soldiers to be bused in from the airport. When Vic returned, there was a light snow and it was late in the evening. We waited inside the hangar, watched some videos and when a song (that I can't to this day remember) played, they opened the hangar doors and our Soldiers marched in. This was some serious drama. After a year apart, there he was standing in front of us on the hangar floor. The tears just flowed.
Something neat happens in our family when someone leaves and then comes home. For several days we experience a little honeymoon type of dynamic. The person who left becomes what we call the "Homecoming Queen or King". They can do no wrong. The kids look at me or Vic as if we have just materialized and are really special people. It feels great to be the Homecoming Queen. The kids want to sit by me, they want to fill me in on everything they have done in my absence and they are sincerely interested in what I did while I was away. At any given moment, I will be hugged or kissed or told that I was missed terribly.The person who isn't on the Homecoming Court, the one who was left behind doing the heavy lifting of the day to day chores, gets completely forgotten. Chopped liver. It is as if the kids forget all that the staying parent did. Vic and I find great humor in these days. We have found that there is no fighting this dynamic. Just follow the flow of the kids and adore the returning parent.
It was in this spirit that I was gifted my perfect day. Basking in the glow of my Homecoming, my every wish was granted. When I asked the family to get ready for church, the answer wasn't the normal groan. My children rose angelically from their place and did just that. Church was amazing without grumpy kids. I asked to go to a spring training baseball game and it was done. The kids sat through 9 innings of sun,with very little complaining, while I cheered on our team. The whole day has been mine, down to the final kiss goodnight. I couldn't ask for more. There are always going to be important reasons to go away from home. From where I'm sitting, though, there are four very incredible reasons for rushing back.
I headed home early Saturday morning after several days of being away. I missed my family so much that I woke up at 5am, took a friend to the airport, and started the hour and a half drive in the darkness before dawn. The roads are nice and empty early in the morning, and the morning announcers on the radio are really calm. It was a serene trip.
There is something so amazing about driving toward home. The minute the car was on the highway headed in the direction of home, it felt like I was being pulled. My excitement for seeing the kids and Vic and the dog kept building. I counted the miles down and raced the sunrise, determined to enter my front door with the sky barely lit. My ultimate goal was to be home, drinking coffee, when the kids woke up.
Vic has had many homecomings, much more dramatic than mine. The first deployment, the homecomings for our Soldiers were huge productions. All of the families were notified when a flight of Soldiers was returning and they were instructed to meet at the designated hangar. There, we had bleachers to sit on, music and video's piped in and refreshments while we waited for the Soldiers to be bused in from the airport. When Vic returned, there was a light snow and it was late in the evening. We waited inside the hangar, watched some videos and when a song (that I can't to this day remember) played, they opened the hangar doors and our Soldiers marched in. This was some serious drama. After a year apart, there he was standing in front of us on the hangar floor. The tears just flowed.
Something neat happens in our family when someone leaves and then comes home. For several days we experience a little honeymoon type of dynamic. The person who left becomes what we call the "Homecoming Queen or King". They can do no wrong. The kids look at me or Vic as if we have just materialized and are really special people. It feels great to be the Homecoming Queen. The kids want to sit by me, they want to fill me in on everything they have done in my absence and they are sincerely interested in what I did while I was away. At any given moment, I will be hugged or kissed or told that I was missed terribly.The person who isn't on the Homecoming Court, the one who was left behind doing the heavy lifting of the day to day chores, gets completely forgotten. Chopped liver. It is as if the kids forget all that the staying parent did. Vic and I find great humor in these days. We have found that there is no fighting this dynamic. Just follow the flow of the kids and adore the returning parent.
It was in this spirit that I was gifted my perfect day. Basking in the glow of my Homecoming, my every wish was granted. When I asked the family to get ready for church, the answer wasn't the normal groan. My children rose angelically from their place and did just that. Church was amazing without grumpy kids. I asked to go to a spring training baseball game and it was done. The kids sat through 9 innings of sun,with very little complaining, while I cheered on our team. The whole day has been mine, down to the final kiss goodnight. I couldn't ask for more. There are always going to be important reasons to go away from home. From where I'm sitting, though, there are four very incredible reasons for rushing back.
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