Welcome Home

[claire voyent]

Helen was much more nervous than excited about seeing her father for the first time in over a year and had been sitting on the front steps under the “Welcome Home Colonel Daddy” banner for more than two hours when the car pulled up and a familiar looking man in uniform leaped out of the car. “Hello baby, come see your Daddy,” he said smiling broadly, “I’ve missed you so much.” She wanted to run to his outstretched arms but her legs wouldn’t cooperate. His smile quickly changed to a look of disappointment and hurt that she never forgot. Years later she cried at his funeral. Not for his death, but for the death of their relationship so many years before.

[michael r. oconnor]

So sad in so many ways. How quickly we can turn tears of joy into years of inner torment.

[Angela]

A tragic story. All those little deaths that happen every day between people who love one another so very much. Well told.

[Sissy Anderson]

Sad, touching, nicely done. A true depiction of a painful moment in life when in a split second, you know everything has changed. I'd say "war" has a lot of those moments.

[Glen Green]

So painful, and it makes me stop and think about how many times variations of this story have played out all over the country in the past ten years of war and separation.