Status: Completed
Eyes of a Soldier
Heaven's Soldier
She stuck by his side for all the years, each remaining faithful to the other. Through two tours in Afghanistan, she was always waiting at home for her soldier to get home. She felt tears streaming down her face when she realized this time, he wouldn’t be coming home. He would be the one waiting this time. He would be waiting in Heaven for his high school sweetheart to join him. To join him in a place where all soldiers laid down their guns and traded in their boots for a pair of wings.
She looked around at the people standing in the cemetery. Her gaze met her daughter. More tears followed when that small child, so innocent, looked up and said, “Mama, did you see that bird fly by? It was daddy. He told me if he ever went away, and couldn’t come back to me, to just imagine he’s the birds. That he’s flying down from Heaven and back to see us.”
She breathed in deep as she seen the fellow Marines salute the grave of this honorable man. She imagined his blue eyes one more time, and how the little lines around them would form when he would laugh. She longed for that laugh, and knew she would until the day she died. She decided at that moment that she would store that sound of his laughter, the sparkle in his eyes, and the spark of his touch to warm her heart on the cold days that brought heartache.
As she walked away, she felt as though a piece of her heart was left in the casket with the broken body of her soldier. He had left something on earth, though: His undying love for his family and country, but most importantly a beautiful 6 year old girl. And even when this family was torn apart and in dissolution, and despite the struggles, she knew that she and her daughter were soldiers in their own way. They would battle on and the war in their hearts would rage on. But anytime this wife missed her husband, she knew she could look into the blue eyes of this little girl by her side, and see a piece of her Marine.
She looked around at the people standing in the cemetery. Her gaze met her daughter. More tears followed when that small child, so innocent, looked up and said, “Mama, did you see that bird fly by? It was daddy. He told me if he ever went away, and couldn’t come back to me, to just imagine he’s the birds. That he’s flying down from Heaven and back to see us.”
She breathed in deep as she seen the fellow Marines salute the grave of this honorable man. She imagined his blue eyes one more time, and how the little lines around them would form when he would laugh. She longed for that laugh, and knew she would until the day she died. She decided at that moment that she would store that sound of his laughter, the sparkle in his eyes, and the spark of his touch to warm her heart on the cold days that brought heartache.
As she walked away, she felt as though a piece of her heart was left in the casket with the broken body of her soldier. He had left something on earth, though: His undying love for his family and country, but most importantly a beautiful 6 year old girl. And even when this family was torn apart and in dissolution, and despite the struggles, she knew that she and her daughter were soldiers in their own way. They would battle on and the war in their hearts would rage on. But anytime this wife missed her husband, she knew she could look into the blue eyes of this little girl by her side, and see a piece of her Marine.