Hatrack River Forum: A Surprise Visitor

This is topic A Surprise Visitor in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :

This morning I was checking my email while my littlest brother (6) was watching PBS. We do this most mornings; I stay home with him until kindergarten starts at noon and then I go to work until 6:00. My mom is taking college classes 40 miles away and is gone all day most days, but today due to problems coordinating a ride she was home and downstairs doing her hair.

The front door opened and someone walked in, but I wasn't wearing my glasses and couldn't tell who it was, only that it was someone very tall. It took me a long time, once I finally recognized him, to reconcile it in my brain.

It was my brother, the older of my two little brothers at 21, who has been on active duty in the Marines and hasn't had leave in 2 1/2 years. He's been stationed in Japan but accepted an assignment to go to Iraq and is supposed to report to Camp Pendleton on Feb.15th. We assumed this meant he'd have to go straight there, but he was planning to come visit and didn't want to tell us in case it fell through. Every time he's requested leave in the past 2 years they've cancelled it at the last minute and he didn't want to get our hopes up.

I thought it was pretty cool to see him, but apparently I don't have the attachment of a mother - when I went downstairs and told my mom she had a visitor and she came up and saw him standing there, she almost fell over - I didn't know that really happened.

Strange, isn't it? [Smile]

Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :

[Smile]

That's really neat, Annie. I'm glad he got a chance to come home.

Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :

[Big Grin]

Posted by Lady Jane (Member # 7249) on :

Oh, that's awesome. [Smile]

Makes me want to go and call my brother.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

Awww! I wish I loved my brother. [Wink]

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :

Excellent!

I bet that was great for your other brother too. [Smile]

Hobbes

Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :

[Cry]

Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :

quote:
I bet that was great for your other brother too.

Oh, he loved it.

This is really kind of edgy for me. My mom thinks I'm a liberal war-hater (I'd only classify myself as only one of those) who doesn't "support the troops" and I need to make sure I react appropriately to all of this.

Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :

I'm embarassed to say I don't know which one, Annie. I hate war, but not as much as I hate the variety of reasons that brought it about.

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :

The latter one. [Smile]

Hobbes

Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :

I just wouldn't call myself a liberal. I'm sure some people would because I'm not a fan of the Bush administration or of the whole stupid war, but others would call my religious and moral standpoints extreme right-wing.

I'm currently trying to convey the fact that I'm against the war but I don't hate the soldiers to just about everyone in this very small town.

Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :

But you don't have an aversion to socialism either. I mean, I used to have the idea that I should do my best to live a moral life and let other people do whatever they want. So I was a liberal, I think.

Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :

That's most of the reason I hate the two-ended spectrum we seem to swear to. Fiscally, I'm totally liberal. Morally, I'm rather conservative. That makes the democrats and the republicans rather annoyed with me.

Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :

Well, I have to say I wasn't too impressed with Bush's budget. If he wanted to cut domestic spending, he could have left the military even or made requisite cuts. I don't see decreasing domestic while increasing military, if that is what it amounted to.

On moral issues, I eventually decided that while people need a degree of freedom, if we as a society support laws that allow immoral behavior we bear some responsibility for those who don't know any better. That is, if our laws don't punish drunk drivers severely, then we are in part to blame for those killed by repeat offenders.

Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :

[Cry]

Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :

That's a story that belongs in your next book Annie. [Smile]

It's so dashing and exciting to think of a loved one showing up unexpectedly...in uniform. *sigh* Great story!