Life After Afghanistan

II. Coming Home: Peter's P.O.V.

                      It was nine months into my deployment when I got the orders to come back to the states. The flight to the airport, the walk from connecting flight to connecting flight, the thought of finally being home just didn't seem real quite yet. My main motivation these past months was one Hope Marie Hamilton. We met when we were in Middle school and we had become inseparable. Hope was my best friend and still is today. Junior year in High School was when I finally found the courage to ask her to become more than just my best friend but to become my girlfriend and with my luck, she said yes. Through all the fights and disagreements we've dealt with through the years, she has still stuck by my side. The closer home I got the faster my heart raced because Hope's twenty-first birthday was in 2 days and her birthday present already laid in a tiny velvet box in my coat pocket and plans were in full swing.

                   When I finally arrived back at base, I raced to my truck. The feel of the engine knocked me into reality and I finally realized I was back home, I was going to see my family and to finally ask Hope to marry me. My heart raced as the drive home drug on and what seemed like hours turned out to be only a half hour drive from base. Soon, I arrived at home, as I stepped down from my truck my boots scraped across the pavement driveway. I started off to the front door, as I almost reached the front steps, I stopped. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I was beginning to be short of breath, but I took a deep breath in and in that moment I pictured the last time I saw Hope.

                 Her sky blue dress flowed in the wind just as her long brown hair did. A single tear ran down her face as I jumped onto the bus that day heading off to the airport for my year-long deployment. I left a letter behind on the counter the morning I left, it wrote:

My Dearest Hope,

My love, my heart, my soul, my whole world. This is not goodbye, I will be home sooner than you think and that is a promise. While I am away, stay strong. Always keep your head up high towards the stars that shine almost as bright as you do my dear and remember I am always with you no matter where I am on this earth.

I'll be home soon sweetheart.

Yours,

Peter D. Matthews

            I walked up to the door and rang the doorbell, after a moment I reached for the knob. As I reached for the doorknob, the door turned and there stood my beautiful Hope. She fell to the floor and I knelt down next to her wrapping her up in my arms. While I was away I could never come to the conclusion on what I missed about her most but now as I was kneeling down, I realized that holding her in my arms, was what I missed the most. After a brief moment, we rose to our feet and her arms quickly wrapped around my neck and her head buried in my shoulder.

           She looked up at me and even till this day I barely remember the conversation we had because all I could do was think about how much I missed her. I was lost in her eyes and the world felt as it was spinning and I couldn't wait to turn the girl of my dreams into my Wife.