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| My sis is the one on the far right. :) In a truck. In the desert. In a war. |
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Of the three of us girls, she is the girliest.
She actually played with the barbies (not just cut their hair or hurled them out of the trees).
She took ballet.
She loved dresses. The prettier, frillier, the better. (And to this day, STILL has the best closet to borrow from.)
Yet she is the one who joined the Army.
She dressed in combat boots.
She handled a machine gun....and liked it.
Oh my little sis, Katie... How I love her.
And on this, this Fourth of July weekend, I am even more amazed by her.
When she decided to go to Germany several years ago, we all held our breath, for we knew what it meant.
She was closest to being chosen to go to Iraq.
And go she did.
So what does a family do when their daughter and sister are far from home?
We ask her what she needs.
And then we send it.
(Starbucks coffee, filters, cream, sugar... enough fixin's for a coffee bar in the desert. It filled my parent's living room because it was what we could physically do. It's what we could do when what we wanted to do was fly to her and just. Well. Just BE there.)
We pray. Hard.
And when she comes home, well...
It's a homecoming worth celebrating.
Meeting her at the airport with balloons. (There were about 30 of us. Plus all of the other people in the airport who stopped, shook her hand, and said quiet words of "Thank you".)
With posters.
With love. And hugs. And open arms.
Welcome home, sis. Gosh how we had missed you.
Your smile.
Your laughter.
Your phone calls.
How grateful we are for you and for your service.....
You are loved, little sis....
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Want to take five minutes with me and just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. Here’s how we do it:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my right side bar}
3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.
It’s a great way to exhale at the end of a beautiful week.
