Our reminder of 9-11

Seven years ago I was pregnant with Matty, living in and teaching fifth grade in Vegas while Derek finished up his study of the Korean language in North Carolina. We planned to reunite in December of 2001 in Vegas. Well on the morning of September 11th, 2001 our family's path was forever changed. I couldn't get ahold of Derek that morning and I didn't know if he was immediatley sent to New York to help out with the aftermath. He finally called and told me he was still in North Carolina. I asked what would happen now. He said he didn't know but that he would probably end up being deployed. Sure enough before we were to reunite in December we found out he would be going overseas and I couldn't know where as he is a green beret and part of the Army Special Forces. He got to spend Christmas with Zack and I then left January 1st, 2002 for Tennessee for three months of training before heading to dark and dangerous places (as my sister says) I flew out to see him, eight months pregnant, in Nashville. Stupidly we watched Black Hawk Down while I was there. I was a blubbery mess after that. Three weeks after he left I gave birth to Matthew. Derek didn't get to meet Matty until he came home in September and Matty was five months old. When Derek got home on September 12th, 2002 he could tell me where he was, and it was Afghanistan. I kinda knew all along, but he never said, and I didn't ask or watch the news. I already decided that if I saw uniformed men through the peephole of my door, I was not going to answer, cause if they could not tell me he was gone then he was not really gone. Thankfully that didn't happen. Now seven years later on September 10th, 2008 we have to say goodbye to Derek again. Afghanistan gets to claim him again until January 2009. I'm sure our kids have no idea why their dad has to go all the time because this is certainly not the only deployment since the first Afghanistan trip. His travels have claimed him more than we have had him home in our ten years of marriage. I do know that I am proud of my soldier and the sacrifice he makes day in and day out to protect the freedoms that so many in this country take for granted. He says the one thing that keeps him going while he is away is knowing that his family is proud of his service, and that we will always be waiting for him to return home to us...and we will.