February 18, 2006
Hey Danny………..
I talked to you this morning….and was one of the first to hear your news (from you personally) that you had orders to come home on 1 April! For some reason I wasn’t thinking that it was NEW news or that is was FACTUAL news or that you actually had those orders. I thought you were making conversation and the date that your mom had in mind of the end of May was still correct. After talking later with your mom and Amanda I found out NO THIS IS HUGE NEWS. And so we prepare for your homecoming. Plans are to be made for your arrival day, meeting you at the gate, balloons and banners, camera’s to be charged, gas tanks to be filled, plane tickets to be shuffled, everyone to be contacted of your arrival, weight to be lost for the endless feasting we will do once you arrive, parties to be planned, I could go on and on. But the biggest project has to be this book. Danny, Amanda loves you down to her core. This book is proof of her endless dedication to you. I know this love is new, but Dan, take a look… just take a look… you don’t even have to have your eyes open to know it, to feel it, to breathe it, to be intoxicated by it. It’s there, it’s real, it’s here, and you aren’t letting go, and everyone couldn’t be happier for you.
Iraq has changed our Danny… Iraq has stripped the extra bs from Danny and left us with your core… just Danny plain and simple. Iraq has put things into amazing perspective for you, the simple things are all you need in this world, and Amanda holds that key to keeping simplicity within your life. So I have to thank Iraq for allowing our Danny to come back a new man, a renewed man, a man who will carry Iraq within him for the remainder of his days. I also have to thank God, Kevlar, and your interpreters who watched your back during your day to day missions, because without them, you wouldn’t be coming back to us. I have to thank your mother for being your mother, for bringing you and Heather into this world, because without you two in this world, I don’t know where I’d be in life. You’ve both always been there for me through anything that came my way and I can’t thank you both enough. Danny, your Hossie has helped mold all of us through the years and now is the bearer of two amazing reasons for you to have made it through every second through Iraq. Reilly & Roman, their little pure faces…. Reilly’s boundless laughter and energy and Roman’s angelic sweetness reminding us to always “GO ME”. Lastly, I have to thank Amanda for being an amazing pen pal to you during your Iraq time. I feel it was her who breathed new love into your heart that added lift to your step.
As I write this I’m listening to IZ. He singing one of my favorite songs….. What a Wonderful World and reminds me of this beautiful friendship bond that our families have. It’s so amazing and I am actually in awe of how strong this bond has gotten during the time you’ve been in Iraq. I can not thank your mom, Ken, my mom, and my dad enough for bringing our two families together. I think this bond is unbreakable because we aren’t blood family, we CHOOSE to be here in one another’s lives. It’s something so unique, it’s indescribable….. It just is.
I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself, what a wonderful world I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself, what a wonderful world The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?" They're really saying "I love you" I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow They'll learn much more than I'll ever know And I think to myself, what a wonderful world Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world ~ Louis Armstrong
Remember when we were kids and we had our favorite underroos??? You know.. I can’t even remember who we all were, but it seems that all the girls were Wonder Woman so I can only imagine that you were either Super Man or Spider Man. The crazy thing about those time is that those costumes made us feel invincible, like no body could touch us, no bullet could penetrate our bodies…. We had our amazing shields, bracelets, and headbands that bullets would just bounce off of… and here you are in a war…. Without your shied, bracelets, or one of our headbands because unfortunately we had to grow up and our imaginations could only carry us so far. I’m so glad I have those memories, because those were dang fun memories. What is funny is in our grown up lives, we have become Superhero’s of some type… you a great American war hero and Heather, Wendy, and I mothers to 1 amazing little girl and 4 energetic boys… all of whom offer us a glance at looking through the world through their eyes from time to time… and maybe we can catch a glimpse of our past Superhero’s selves. What a wonderful world.
I love you, I missed you, I can’t wait to be part of your life after Iraq…. Keep those feet firmly planted and remember to KISS (keep it simple stupid).
Melissa
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