It’s all in your frame of mind

Today we said goodbye to our Marine again. Luckily we got up very early to catch our flight home so I was too groggy to be dramatic. I have learned that he hates drama and so does my husband. I save that for my fellow military moms.

As I got off the flight I realized I was keeping time with a young man on crutches who was missing part of a leg-it did not take long to figure out the he and his buddies were all Marines. I joked with him about his speed, and he told me how his stump had opened up so he could not wear his prosthesis right now. But he was lucky-he was young and his loss was below the knee.” Lucky!” That almost took my breath away.Our conversation continued. We talked about all his different models of prosthesis. At one point he said, ” Take my advice try not to lose your leg.” I responded, ” I don’t think you planned on doing that.” He and his buddies burst into laughter. I was struck by their attitudes, their good humor, their positive attitude and hope.

I told them about my Marine, we shared stories, and of course I shared all about my book. As we said goodbye I said how proud I was of them and how they were true battle buddies and they all grinned. As they walked away I realized I wanted them to have my card and I sent my husband in a mad dash after them with this message :

” Call me if I can ever help. ”

They looked like boys but they are not. They are heroes fighting battles we don’t want to think about. And somehow meeting them I felt better. My Marine is leaving once again. We have done this before. We will miss him. There will be hard times. But we can keep moving forward with speed and positive attitudes and hope. Because we are all part of something bigger than who we are. And I saw that today in the heart of a wounded warrior and his battle buddies who won’t let go. Semper Fi Gentlemen, Semper Fi.