All I want for Christmas is My Soldier

Lord, Grant me the greatness of heart to see,
the difference in duty and his love for me.
Give me the understanding to know,
that when duty calls he must go.
Give me a task to do each day,
to fill the time when he is away.
And Lord, when his duty is on the field,
Please protect him and be his shield.

I don't remember when or where I heard this prayer, but I still remember every word of it, cause it has been the words I have been frequently chanting for the past two years.

It had been two years since I have been apart from him. Two lonely years just waiting. The last time I saw him it was on Christmas Eve. He had been home for a week and I had never felt so much joy. But then that dreadful call came in and we both knew that our time together had shortened, all we had were few minutes to make memories that would last a thousand hours apart to spend just thinking.Nothing felt worse than leaving his arms, walking away from him for Lord knows how long.

I could feel my heart in my throat and my words choke, but I had to be strong cause I couldn't let him see me broke. He needed to know I will be fine so that he could do his duty and come back alive. He told me " I will see you soon" but I never knew when that soon would come, all I hoped was that we would stand and fight until that day comes, where we would be one again. Our hug ended and he kissed me one last time. I could still feel his lips on mine, his arms around me, cocooning me with his love and I never wanted that feeling to end. I wanted to wrap all these sensations and lock them away in me, never wanting them slipping away. Was I too selfish to never want this to end?

So here I stood clutching his dog tags, watching him take off and my heart break. One half went behind him while I was left with only the other. But it would have to be enough until the two pieces were one again.
It has been two years and I am still waiting, my military man has yet to come see me.

I did as he told me and continued living. Checking my phone every second of every day, waiting for a message or a call, just to know he was safe.

Loving a Military Man was not hard. The distance, the worry, the sacrifices were hard. But never loving him. Loving him was the easiest thing I ever did. And the best part was my dad approved of him.

My Dad was my rock and my soldier and someone I always turned to when I needed a shoulder. And when he was happy with my choice then there was nothing more I wanted in life. I still recall dad saying,
"Little One,
I want to tell you about the Man who doesn't need to be kept interested,
because he knows you are interesting.
I don't care that he puts his elbows on the dinner table- as long as his eyes are on the way your nose scrunches when you smile. And he can't take his eyes off you.
I don't care if he doesn't follow his wallet- as long as he follows his heart and it always leads him back to you.
I don't care if he is strong- as long as he gives you the space to exercise the strength that is in your heart.
I don't care about the colour of his skin- as long as he paints the canvas of your life with brushstroke of patience and sacrifice, and vulnerability and tenderness.
I don't care if he can't play golf with me- as long as he can play with the children you give him and revel in all the glorious and frustrating ways they are just like you.
I could care less how he votes- as long as he wakes up every morning and elects you to a place of honour in your home and a place of reverence in his heart.
I don't care if he was raised in this religion or that religion or no religion-as long as he was raised to value the sacred and to know every moment of life, and he knows every moment of life with you, is deeply sacred.
And you know what little one, the Man you have found for yourself may not have much in common with me but we have something extremely important in common and that is YOU.
And child he is the kind of Man that I have always wanted for My princess. Though I am happy that you found yourself someone to love cause if it would have been left upto me you would have been single till you were 50."

His words still ring true in my heart everyday cause if we weren't meant for each other then we wouldn't have lasted this long. And if I had anything to do with it we would still be going strong until death do us apart.

It was just a day from Christmas Eve, a festival that didn't mean much to me. You had taken all the fun and joy that came with and it would still be happy for me only when you came back to me. But I had to still celebrate it, if not for myself then for the little gift you had given me. Our princess is a little more than 1 year old and this is her second Christmas away from you.  Did you know she was our Christmas Eve miracle? I want it to be special so I will act, like I am the happiest at this moment. All the gifts are there below the tree and I hold my girl in my arms and we look at the tree. I ask her if she has a wish that she hasn't told me and she turns in my arms and says she has one "Mumma, daddy come home, pwease"

And I clutched my child to my chest and just wished and wished that he would come home. He had missed so much and I didn't want him to miss more all I wanted was our family to be whole. But I didn't know if our wish would come true, so I just took my girl to eat some food.

It was Christmas Eve and our princess's Birthday. Everyone came to celebrate except the one she waited ardently for. How could I tell this innocent child that what she wished for might not come true. No matter how much we wanted it to come true, the world had something different planned for us to to pass through. I didn't want her hopes to get demolished so we all just distracted her to redeem her spirits. She was but a child who should never know loss, and should know only joy until the end of times. But how do I tell you that it wasn't only a child's wish, it was my wish too! I just wanted you to come home cause it was becoming too hard for me to live without you.

But little did we know that when there was hope, there was faith. And when there was faith, Miracles do happen.
Our Christmas Miracle was here.

The bell rang and I went to open the door and there he was with his duffle bag and a gift for our girl. Our little girl came running to the door and one look at her father and she just knew. Clutching his legs she refused to leave just uttering the words "daddy came". The look in his eyes when he first saw our child was like she was the best thing that ever happened in his life. I know men don't like to show there weaknesses, but that day my man cried. After all our family was whole again and everyone deserved to cry tears of joy.

Two years back I thought I knew joy but nothing compares to the joy I felt when my man returned whom to me and my daughter and held us in his arms, never to let go.

Note-
Guys hope you'll like this short and sweet Military inspired love story. I am not a part of the Military Family so if I have gotten any details wrong I am very sorry about that. The prayer at the start has what has inspired me to write this story. I read it on Pinterest and fell in love with it. And aren't the cover pictures just adorable. I found those on Pinterest too. Let's just say I am obsessed with Pinterest.