At first glance this is a picture of our armed servicemen boarding a plane for Iraq. We've been in that far off country for years now and to be honest I barely give it a thought. It is very distant in my mind and I feel grateful that we can be at war and my life can be so unaffected by what is going on across the world.
A deeper glance at this picture reveals my good friend Jason who has a story. Jason is at the back of the photo on the left with his head down. Jason joined the church at age 18 or 19. He had already joined the marine corp at that time and while engaged to his future wife Angela he deployed to Desert Storm. After he returned he married his sweetheart Angela and they went off to college together. Jason studied engineering and soon he and Angela had their first son Andrew. Two years later they had twins and were suddenly this big family. Jason realized he had a passion for serving his country and decided to make a career in the marine corp. Their family moved to Pensacola, Florida and they were blessed with another baby boy. After that they moved to Palm Desert, California and were blessed with their 5th child a little girl. Shortly after that they were able to move to Spokane where Jason recruited for the Marine Corp. Jason came to church one time before deploying to Okinawa for 6 months. They lived here for three years and not once did I truly appreciate the sacrifice Jason was making for our country. I didn't really appreciate it when he deployed to Iraq 2 years ago either. But for some reason finding these pictures in my email inbox tonight struck a chord with me. There are families all across America who are sacrificing so that we can enjoy our basic freedoms.
For the next 6 months Jason's family will sit down to dinner without their dad. They will play baseball and do swim meets and gymnastic meets and Jason will read about it via email. The twins will turn 12 and their dad won't be there to ordain them as deacons. They will move across the country to their new post without a dad/husband to supervise the move. Angela will be a single mom and be emotionally exhausted from doing double duty all the time. And friends like me will never truly understand what they are going through.
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10 comments:
Andrea - what a beautiful post. Thanks for telling us of Jason and his family. People like you allow others to open their eyes to the sacrifices of men and women who serve for our country and preserve our freedoms. Your comments can also open our hearts to the families left behind. Thanks for your thoughts!
Thank you for the well written reminder.
Jason is an awesome guy, as is his family. I can't imagine the hardships both must be going through.
Makes my complaints seem trivial and shallow in comparison.
Thanks, Andrea.
This is such an important reminder and helps me feel more grateful for all that I have. Leave it to Andrea to bring more perspective to my life - like always!
Oh...my heart goes out to Angela. To have him leave would be heartbreaking. To have him fight, terrifying. To read about presidential candidates and "wasted" lives....infuriating.
Thank you so much for reminding all of us about the personal side of it all.
Such a great reminder. I often look at the t.v. and "tune" it out when they talk about the war. It's almost like hearing a broken record. However, there are people out there like your friend who are sacrifices their lifes to fight for our country. Great post Andrea--thanks!
When my dad was in Iraq I thought about the struggles there daily. Now that he is not there it is so easy to forget. It was good to be reminded again - but always harder to think about someone you know having to be there.
Sounds like you've had a busy week. Thanks for taking the time to post this though. It was a fabulous post. We had someone in our ward over in Iraq for a year. His wife was a primary teacher, and I was the chorister. She would tear up EVERY time we sang Armies of Helaman. I don't know many people in the military, so it brought it close to home. He's been home for a while, so thank you for this post!
I too often forget the sacrifice these wonderful service people and their families are making. Some of their tours are so long and many have to go back time and time again. We all owe them so much. What a great tribute to your friend and his family.
I am so sorry for their family. Isn't once to Iraq enough. It doesn't seem fair. I'm sure it seems less fair to Angela and the kids.
My sister-in-law had to go without my brother for almost a year. He got home a couple of weeks ago. He hasn't had to go to Iraq yet, I hope and pray he never does.
Wow Andrea. Glad the tissues are near today...
I feel so for the families involved in the war and I, too, don't think of their sacrifices often enough. I can't imagine. I really, truly can't.
Thank you for making me think a bit more today. Will keep Jason and his family in my prayers...
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