Our American Hero

My brother Donny is on leave right now for about 15 days from his tour in Afghanistan. He got home to Texas just in time for Halloween and spent a few days down there with my parents and my sister's family. On Monday he flew to Utah for about a week, but had about a 3 hour layover here in the Denver airport. I was so excited when he told me he was coming through town! I haven't seen him since last Christmas, and have been anxious for him every day since. His flight landed just before noon on Monday, so we got Sam out of school early, picked up some lunch and headed for the airport. Luckily, Mike was off on Monday so we were all able to go. The kids were so excited to see "Uncle Donny" and right when Sam saw him, she ran straight to him and gave him a huge hug! We were able to spend a few hours together while he showed us a few pictures from his base in Gardez. It was really neat to see his pictures of every day life as a soldier stationed over there. It's nice to see he actually is working, some of the time. :) After a few laps around the airport, and after trying to squeeze every bit of information I could out of him, it was time to go. Of course I was the only one in tears. No matter how big he gets, he's still my baby brother and I worry about him. Of course he assures me that he is actually quite safe over there, but that doesn't really help much to ease my anxiety. He will go back next week to finish up his time over there. He comes home for good in February, which definitely isn't soon enough. Time is flying by quickly though, so I'm crossing my fingers, and saying many prayers until then. We love you, bud!