War Face…painting it on again

 
 
Today I had planned on sharing a cute craft tutorial with you guys and give an update on the progress of my AWESOME craft cabinet Brandon’s been building for me.
But, unfortunately that’s not what’s tugging at my heart strings today. So I’ll save that for a post next week.
What is tugging, hard, is that we got some ‘news’ yesterday.
News that we were hoping wouldn’t come.
So today I’m going to share with you a piece I wrote for one of our Story Dam writing prompts a few months ago. (you can click the link and check out the prompt before reading if you’d like before continuing)
 
His Hero
She stood there strong and yet as fragile as could be.
Her tiny heart breaking as she watched soldiers march out to board a bus to their destination. Among them was her Daddy, her hero. Pride and confusion consumed her small body. Tears consumed her eyes, her face. She had been in this moment far too many times, but she was still tiny in her age, unable to understand or answer why.
She reached for her mother’s hand, gripping it tight. On the other side was her older sister, whose hands she couldn’t hold because they were wiping away her own tears. Soon her sister reached for her hand, giving it a quick squeeze, she felt a little safer, but not quite safe enough.
She stood there strong and yet as fragile as could be.
She stretched her neck, stood on her tippy-toes, struggling to get one last glance of her Daddy, her hero. Would it be the last time she saw him she wondered? Would her Daddy come home as promised?
There he was, marching forward, a quick glance in her direction. That’s when she saw that her Daddy shared the same ‘face’ as her. Not taking her eyes off of him she asked “Why is Daddy crying?”
Her mother gave no reply.
The doors shut, and the tears flowed stronger. Her Daddy, her hero no longer in sight.
As her mother hugged her she asked one more time, “Why was Daddy crying?”  Her mother pulled her closer, tighter and whispered in her ear “Because we’re his girls, his heroes”.
She stood there strong and yet as fragile as could be.
She wiped her tears and put on a smile, her tiny heart filled with pride. For now she knew that she had to be strong, strong for her Daddy, her hero…. And put her ‘war’ face on.
 
 
Unfortunately, the news received will have Lexie painting on her “war face” once again. She honestly has to be one of the strongest little girls I know. It breaks my heart that she’s even had to endure one deployment let alone 5. She told me this morning on our way to school that it’s all she can ever remember so far, and that even though she’s sad that she’s used to it now. Why should ANY child have to say they’re used to Daddy or Mommy leaving for months and years at a time? Why should ANY child have to paint on their “war face”?
So please, if you will, I don’t care what your views on the war are, include the children of soldiers in them. Because unfortunately they’ve had to fight this war too.
 

 
The image I used was sent to me by a friend a few weeks ago because it reminded them of our girls when they were little, I’m not sure where they found it. If you know who deserves credit for it, please let me know or leave it in a comment.