He is a Veteran

My little boy was born after 22 1/2 hours of labor on Mothers Day. He wasn't breathing when he was finally delivered after 3 hours of pushing and the help of vacuum extraction. The cord had been wrapped tightly around his shoulders. The cord had to be cut away from his shoulders and he was rushed away. He finally cried and there was a sigh of relief in the room. The cord was cut a second time  by his daddy and I was finally able to hold him for the first time.  

Once we were home, I didn't want to put him down. I would stare at him all day. Sometimes I would change his clothes and look at him in different outfits. He was perfect and he was mine. He was ours. 

I was never away from him for more than a week until he graduated from high school. Two weeks later he left for Marine Recruit Training and I cried. I cried hysterically. I felt as if someone had died. It took weeks before I could talk about him without crying. I wrote him every day for 13 weeks while he was in training. One year later, I watched him deploy to Afghanistan. 

My baby boy, who loved Thomas the Tank Engine and Barney, left to fight in a war. He was an infantryman. He was in the middle of a mean and dangerous war.  He deployed twice to Afghanistan to fight. The second time was worse than the first. It was in a time when our President had said he had brought our men home and when I or my daughters mentioned that our Marine was fighting in Afghanistan people would look at us and say, " He cant be, Obama brought our men home" It was infuriating! My son lost friends over there, he saw his fellow Marines injured and dying, he fought for his own life and for those around him. He had some very close calls and Americans thought all our men were home. 

I sent my baby boy off to war. Ive never been the same. It permanently damaged me inwardly. I am proud of him for doing his part. I am thankful my son made it home but he was also permanently changed. He is not the same person he used to be but he is my son. I am proud of him. He is a veteran.