It was a bitter cold wind. Tired I stood clutching the hand of my husband and wiping back tears as the military soldiers took the casket out of the hearse and lifted it onto their shoulders. Step by step, they gently carried it to its final resting place. As the wind whipped my hair and tousled my skirt, I remember thinking that it wasn’t so bad standing in that wind. I was alive. I am alive. Silence. Nobody said a word. We just stood and watched. From a distance I could see the casket over the crowd of people, and then it was lowered. Amazing grace played by the bagpipes. More silence, but I knew from afar the last words were being said as a soldier was being laid to rest. Taps played on the bugle. Silence. Gun solutes.
I never knew Cpl. Aaron E. Williams personally. I know his mom. She works as a Teacher’s Aid at my school, and she is one of the most delightfully people you could meet. She wore red every Friday – even around St. Patrick’s Day. “I’m supporting my boy,” she said proudly. He was her youngest. Her only son among four children. Cpl. William’s dad is a bus driver for our community schools.
23 years old. Prior to standing outside in the cold I sat through a memorable service for a man whom I would have liked to have met. He was to be married in October to his high school sweetheart. As his parents and fiancé walked by me at the beginning of the service, Cpl. William’s 2 ½ year old blond haired little angel was hanging on to her grampy’s neck. Does she understand? How do you tell a 2 ½ year old girl that daddy isn’t going to be home again? Who’s going to teach her how to ride a bike? Who will protect her from those sneaky teenage boys? Who will give her away when she is to be married?
My trials seem so small when I think about that 2 ½ year old little girl. I still have my dad, my mom, my whole family. I know I will wonder about her for the rest of my life, and in turn remember her father, the man whom she could’ve known, but didn’t get to know.
He didn’t have to go to Afghanistan. He volunteered to go. I am thankful for him and the others who have given their lives to fight for freedom and a better world. As I sit in my warm cushy apartment praying for a better world, men and women are out there risking their lives trying to make it a better one.
I was reminded today that life is short. Live each day to the fullest.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A Sobering Day
Posted by Sarah at 6:43 PM
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2 comments:
Hello Sarah,
I do not know you, and so, you do not know me, however, we both know Kelly and she sent me the link to this post. My husband is in the Military. I am a very proud Navy Wife. Kelly thought I would like to read this post - and she was right. Thank you for posting it. For helping to make people aware of what life is like for us. A lot of the soldiers who are in Afghanistan are there because they volunteered to go. Of course, they really have no idea what they are volunteering for. Our friend volunteered to go. He was one of the lucky ones and came home. He was not prepared for what he saw, what had happened - everything. He took it very hard. We have another friend who volunteered to go and is slated to go the end of May. My own husband asked to put on the ship that is going in September. Being on a ship, though, is much safer than being on land! It scares me. It scares me everyday when I hear more and more people I know getting sent over there, not knowing if they will return. We have not told our children yet that Daddy is going to War. How do you tell them? When? Our friends tell us that they are more worried about ME while he is away than about HIM... Eight months is a long time. We must do everything we can to support not only our troops, but their families as well. Thank you for posting this, and thank you to everyone who reads it and gives pause to think, to pray for them - for us.
Donna
awh. sad!
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