{Super late, of course, but linking up with Lisa Jo and the Five Minute Friday crew.}
The soldier as hero narrative makes us uncomfortable, it does. But the gratitude comes often and expressive when he is in uniform. And because there is a generation of warriors who were spat on, dismissed, and discarded – we don’t throw away the thank yous. And we say thank you in return, because really what else can you say, and I am easy with the smiles because yes, yes he is, in fact, a hero.
He’s my little girl’s hero because he loves her fierce, and true, and whole. He is teaching her to accept nothing less than a love like that from a man like him, when dress up is for real and princess dresses look an awful lot like wedding gowns.
He’s the Wee Man’s hero because there is nowhere he’d rather be than playing catch with his boy and reading books about bulldozers and wouldn’t you know when the Wee Man grows up he wants to, and I quote, “Go up and down, drink shoffees {coffee}, and fly airplanes.” Just. Like. His. Dad.
So yes he’s wearing camouflage half a world a way. And the beating blades and red cross are saving grace in the waning moments of the golden hour – but he’s no hero for that. For that, he is a soldier.
For our babes …. for them, he’s a hero.
~M.
{Missing him something fierce.}
I love your perspective on all this. He is my Hero but he and I both feel awkward with the adulation that sometimes comes our way. I could go on but the bottom line is I share your feelings and I love how you express them.
Thank you Beth! It certainly can be awkward … How are you? Don’t you have a baby coming soon??
I am doing well 🙂 Yes, our little Abby is expected March 20! I’m getting quite excited to meet her! Her daddy won’t be able to be there but it is what it is…
LOVE YOU MOLLY!!! BIG HUGS FROM THE GERRELL HOME! (yes I know I’m yelling–it so you can hear me all the way in Tennessee)
I accept your hugs…can’t wait for IRL squeezes this summer.
Beautiful! And you know what? I appreciate your grace to those people that DO thank him because you are right, there are too many that were never thanked and were treated like dirt.
Yes, my heart aches for so many Vietnam veterans. Thank you for your kind words.
Hi FMF friend, this is so lovely. I love your heart and your family are all heroes to me. Praying for comfort in missing each other…may these days be full of God’s grace.
Thank you! And they are filled with grace … I wouldn’t survive without it!
Molly, this is beautiful! Thank YOU for the sacrifice YOU give, as wife & mother, so your husband, our soldier, can fight for our freedoms. Thank YOU for enduring the good-byes and the distance, for us. Thank YOU for sharing your heart… it is beautiful! ♥
Thank you S. Glad to keep running across you in these small corners of the internet:)
this is beautiful. Thank you for sharing your heart, and for sharing your family, with us. I’m a former military wife, too. Thank you for being willing to persevere – to share every moment of your family life with those of us who don’t even know you, so that we can keep our families with us.
I love the header – the good byes … the hellos … and the GRACE in between. Just THANK YOU.
YOU’RE WELCOME ;). Seriously, thank you for your kind words. They bear us up.
Beautiful. I believe your entire family are heros to me. All you sacrifice, all you endure. Thank you.
Thank you Juliea. Your gratitude is so kind.