I Love You (Welcome Home Iraq Veterans Poem)

Unpublished

I Love You

When we were deployed
When we were gone

Don’t forget we love you

We were doing it for a worthy cause
To protect the freedoms you enjoy

To have a choice.
To be able to say what you want to say.
To be with whom you want to be.
To be what you want to be
To live your life to the fullest

Freedom to dream . . . . .

Dreams of peace and equality.
No war.

Not to be afraid
To walk down the street
To live in peace and harmony

To make a difference
To make a change

During deployment there was . . .
Camaraderie
Brotherhood
Sisterhood
Battle buddies
Friends
Understanding and support

We say, “Thank you for standing behind us!”

Freedom isn’t Free!

We’re all in this together.
Doing the same thing for the same cause.
Which is liberty
Which is love
Which is dedication

Which is doing it with a lot of pride for you, the children!

Deployment involves separation and sacrifice,.

Missing. .
birthdays, holidays, ballet recitals,
births, first steps, french fries, oreo cookies,
vacations, weddings,
bedtime stories, and butterfly kisses

Significant, emotional moments

Family quality time!

Saying I love you every day.
Having meals together.
Belly rubs, home cooking, cuddle time,
Doing homework together
Picking up and dropping off the kids at school.

Family quality time is having someone to talk to and guide you.

When I first got over there I told myself that when I came back home that I would not take for granted the simple things in life . . . like water, toilets, and electricity.

When I first got over there we didn’t even have showers. But we did have mice in Afganistan and rats in Iraq crawling on our heads!

Now that we’ve come home
We have a better appreciation for life and family

Simply being able to walk on grass is beauty unto itself

To those of us who’ve been deployed
We have a new perspective for America.
To accept the changes we’ve been through
And to offer hope for the future
Through taking pride in the legacy of the Veterans
Who came before us
And to never forget the one’s we’ve lost

To appreciate the freedoms we have and risked our lives for,
and to embrace them
as we now embrace you

Through all the hazards, please know
We did not forget you

All gave some
Some gave all

If there’s one thing I would tell the you, “It’s ok to cry, it’s ok to hurt.”

And for those of you who’ve lost your mommy or daddy
Know that they always talked about you
They always thought about you

Even when it’s hard for us to show it.
Even when we get mad.
Always know that we love you.

Every day
Every night

These thoughts of you help us survive.
These pictures of you still carry us through.

If there’s one more thing we would say to you, it’s simply, “I love you.”

Collectively written with Iraq veterans & their families on Memorial Weekend, 2010.

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