Sunday, September 18, 2011

Not Quite Home...

Jake, along with his fellow soldiers, returned to the US about 2 weeks ago.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the happy return we had all been waiting for.  Jake has bad knees and they're keeping him in Seattle until they can figure out if he needs surgery to fix them.  Most of the soldiers from the 116th have all now returned to their families in Idaho, but not my son.

If he has surgery, he'll need physical therapy afterward so he could be in Seattle for a long time.  I was happy that on the spur of the moment, his wife decided to pack up the 2 girls and drive to Seattle yesterday to spend a day or two with him.  They all need this time together.  Jake posted on Facebook that they all had dinner in a food court together last night - and it was the best dinner he's ever had.  That made me happy.

If he stays in Seattle, here in a few weeks we'll all chip in and help send Heather and the girls to see him again.  Only this time we'll make sure they fly so they can have those 18 hours spent driving on this trip, together.

I'm so happy to have him back in the states, but so sad that he's stuck alone on a military base.  I know how hard this last year was for them all - it's time to be back together.

4 comments:

Dee said...

It had to have been a very happy reunion----they all needed to be together. Jake is so close and yet so far away . It was a big decision Heather made yesterday morning, but she is a strong determined girl, so made it happen. Atta girl, Heather. Grace must have been soo excited all during the trip and then to SEE and hug Daddy----sweet !

Happy reunion !

kate said...

How frustrating for everyone! But at least he's getting his knees fixed, and at least he's safe and on US soil.

So glad Heather and the girls got to go see him!

H said...

It was good to see him, no doubt about it. But he and I both agreed it was terrible at the same time...

Yes, it is a better situation that he is on US soil, but gone is gone is gone.

I just hope this time flies by quickly and we can look back on it soon and be thankful it's behind us.

Jodi said...

Well then Heather, maybe we'll just save those tickets and see if we can send you all on some kind of a little vacation once he's home.