I’ll be home for Christmas

I always loved that Christmas song, but this year, it had so much more meaning. 

My brother-in-law, Charles, was deployed to Afghanistan at the beginning of January.  We always knew that there was a possibility that he would go, but we had hoped he could avoid it.  Charles is married to my sister, Amy, and they have a son, Drew, my nephew.  This was a big year for my family.  We celebrated Mauldin’s first birthday, Elle’s birth, Annagrace’s first dance recital, and most of all, Drew’s first year of “big” school (He began kindergarten).  During this year, we were fortunate enough to keep in touch with Charles through Facebook.  We tried to tag him in photos so that he would not miss the big events.  We were excited when we found out that his leave would coincide with Drew’s first day of school, and the entire time, we hoped that he would be able to come home for Christmas. 

As time drew nearer, it didn’t look like that would happen.  The final word was that he would be home the day after Christmas, December 26.  We made all the necessary arrangements, and as a family, planned to drive to Ft. Benning that day after Christmas to see him.  All these plans were set, until everyone woke up this morning.

I think it is better to hear what happened in Charles’s words, through his Facebook post.  Please read, and as you read, I hope you see that Christmas miracles DO still happen.

Charles:  (23 hours ago) I am in Qatar, there were 700 joes in Bagram trying to get to Kuwait…a little birdy told me to fly to Qatar and hop to Kuwait from there. Well here I am, almost no one here and I have a scheduled flight to Kuwait at 10am

Charles:  (22 hours ago)  CHANGE…someone call Amy and tell her this. I am flying to Baltimore TONIGHT from QATAR, TONIGHT…boarding in like 10 freaking minutes TONIGHT. I may have to come out of pocket to get to Atlanta but will get reimbursed at Benning. Umm…Daddy will be home for Christmas!

Charles:  if you couldn’t tell, I am not really worried about it (getting a flight to Atl.)…I feel like I am being carried right now. I mean, really, like someone else planned this trip out for me – I feel like Forrest Gump, like I just bumble along with no clue what I am do…ing and doors are opening at precisely the right minute. I mean, getting off the plane in Qatar and a US bound plane is literally sitting on the runway and has a hundred open seats. You guys have no clue how weird that is, there are hundreds of people who have been waiting for days in Kuwait and Bagram for flights and I am just walking into open seats with no reservations and as a low priority traveler (Space-A).

 

Charles:  Wow – just wow – it’s hard to explain but none of this should have happened. First, this flight doesn’t allow open carry of weapons, they have to be checked. If I hadn’t LUCKED into that weapons case a couple days ago I wouldn’t be on this bird…

 

Charles:  Second, it was sheer luck that I got on the Qatar flight, I just happened to be in the terminal when they announced they had a some open seats on a cargo plane, they never posted the flight in the terminal or announced it over the loud speaker – it was a spur of the moment, if you are ready to move your butt right-the-hell now type of deal. Third, As soon as we landed we started hearing call to fill a ton of open seats on this flight. I was in Qatar maybe 30 minutes before I was checking bags for this plane.I am starting to believe in Santa Claus now, Drew told me he asked Santa that I get home for Christmas…even though I told him I would be there right after. I guess Drew thought, we will see if Santa can handle this… 

 

Charles:  Also, why did I go to Qatar? Well, I am listening to the clerks telling guys they may wait for days to fly to Kuwait and then some guy walks in yelling about Qatar. Im not thinking anything about it – after all, I need to go to Kuwait, righ…t? Another civilian guy walks up and says “You need a flight home?” I said yes, trying to get to Kuwait. He replies “Go to Qatar, go now”.

 

Charles:  and I did what he said…who knows who the hell he was and it is unlike me to say “yeah, I will fly to a different country than I need to because random civilian guy says to”

 

Charles…maybe he was Santa

I’ve omitted a lot of comments from others, but you can still see how the story unfolded.  A child asked Santa to simply bring his Daddy home for Christmas, and with the faith of a child, he knew it would be granted. 

Merry Christmas too all…and to all a good night!

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