Happy Pain

I don't normally blog more than once a week... I'm actually lucky to blog once every two to three weeks here lately.  Not really because I don't want to, but mainly due to being too lazy to be witty or proof read more than once.  Eh, it happens.

Anyway, so I was stalking glancing over my home page on Facebook, and I came across this link that my cousin posted (thanks, Michelle!).  Along with the link/video was a little blurb about betting you wouldn't be able to watch it without crying.  Even knowing what a big baby I usually am (I am that person who cries during episodes of "Full House"), I accepted the challenge and began watching.  OH. EM. GEE.  It was that snorting, snotty type of cry that you try to stifle.  And I was only trying to stifle because I couldn't see the video.  Anyway, it was a montage of soldiers who are returning home to their loved ones and surprising them.  Some of the toddlers' and kids' reactions were so heart-wrenching, you just couldn't help but cry.

But the reason for this blog was more to reflect on something I experienced as a child and it was SUCH a happy time for me.  Completely unexpected.  When I was in middle school, I frequently went to church with my BFF Jessica.  One week, they had a father/daughter night, which if you don't know me, you probably don't know that my parents divorced when I was six and my dad moved to Greensboro, while I remained with my mom in Wilmington, NC.  My dad and I really only saw each other 3 times a year - Christmas, Spring Break, and summer because those were the times I could get away from school.  The father/daughter event was during the week, so I pretty much expected to just borrow Jessica's dad for the night (to clarify - we were going to share.. no intention of stealing him from Jessica).  :)

So, they did this thing where we were all out in the hallway while the fathers were helping set up in the gym (or something) and they were going to let us know when we could come in.  They finally call us in and they make us close our eyes (I can't really remember the reasoning they gave us but I was completely oblivious to anything going on and happily complied).  So I'm in my place, my eyes are closed and they told me to open them and turn around.  And there was my dad standing there with a rose in hand, just smiling!  I remember screaming, hugging, then crying into his chest.  Obviously, I was happy and very surprised!  Seeing these snippets of kids and babies that are seeing their dads after being apart for months or years at a time brought back this memory that I hadn't thought of in quite some time.

Now, granted I know my situation was different.  I had the "luxury" of knowing that my dad was just 3.5 hours away in a house or office and not in danger of losing his life at any given time.  I never left him over the summer or at Christmas, thinking I may never see him again because he could lose his life fighting for our country.  I just always knew a few months would go by, and I'd be right back with him.  I never worried - he's my dad and that's just how it was.  So that's how it's different.  But that may be the only way that it's different, because that scream and those tears were the exact same kind that those kids in the video felt when they unexpectedly saw their dad suddenly standing before them.  It was the kind of surprise that surges through your entire body like when someone jumps out and scares you and it's almost painful.  It felt like that but in this case, it was a "happy pain".  And it still makes me smile all these years later...

In the event you have facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=455621345922&ref=mf