Tears

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I remember like yesterday when you were born, the night was clear and calm.
Not a cloud in the sky so the moon shone bright until the morn.
I was crying tears of joy that I could not stop!

I can see the day clearly when you turned 5 and went off to school.
You said, “Mommy don’t cry I’m a big boy now and I have to go learn the Golden Rule.”
Again, I was crying tears of joy I could not stop!

Wow 13 yrs. old, becoming a teenager, girls and high school I remember how you thought it was going to be so cool ...
But pimples, a crackling voice and other signs of puberty you discovered was not so funny!
All the hard times through those years I always told you, “be patient, it will pass honey.”
Silently laughing tears of joy.

So now here we are at 19, at Fort Sill, Army Basic Training on your graduation day
The U.S. Army is how you want to make your way!

As you walk proudly across the floor to receive a Certificate of Accomplishment you have been striving for
I am watching with tears falling once more ...

But those tears are different now, more than just pride and joy.
My son walked over to me that day and I still remember what he had to say ...

Don’t cry mom, for today I became a man, and I must go off to a foreign land and defend our country and make a stand, Against terrorism for all of our fellow man!

How was I to know that the boy I was raising yesterday would become the man to defend you today?
So yes I cry, I cry for all of our men and women, as they go off to fight a war that is far older than they have lived.
So that we may live, not in fear, but the live we live now, free.

Now I ask you this ... will you cry for me?

 

Dawn Joyner
Spouse, D Battery 2-43 ADA