Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: OVERSEAS VACATION (08/13/15)
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TITLE: A Place in Mind | Previous Challenge Entry
By Amanda Septer
08/20/15 -
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Eight hours now stretch before me as I cross the Atlantic Ocean. This commercial plane is more comfortable than the cold and noisy C-130, but I can’t relax. I’m not sure the down time is good for me. It gives me too much time to think. For the last thirteen months I have done the same thing. I get up, put on my uniform, and do my job. There’s a war going on, and I am a soldier. Images that I’d previously pushed aside now fill my undistracted mind. Now the true debriefing begins.
I see the faces of my fallen brothers. One by one I hand them, their stories, and their families over to God. I see the starving bodies of those who live in the village closest to base. I oscillate between anger at their constant attacks on us, and pity knowing that they are being coerced and used by a much larger enemy. I lay it all at the feet of the One who knows us both. I face the resentment of being away from my family that I’ve held onto all these months. I’ve worn that resentment as an extra skin, extra protection. I now lay it down on the altar, and put myself under His protection. Slowly and painfully I let go of what I’ve been avoiding this past year. I cast every care upon my savior. Finally at peace, I fall asleep.
My heart leaps with joy as the wheels of the plane touch the ground. I debark and make my way through the familiar maze of the airport. The passengers in front of me are the only things that keep me from running down the escalator. I’m almost to the bottom when I hear it.
“DADDY!”
My eyes search anxiously, trying to spot her. I step off the escalator and the crowd parts. There she is. She is taller than when I left. Her hair is longer, but still curly like her mom’s. Her shining eyes are still just like mine. She runs towards me as fast as her five-year-old legs can carry her. I hug her until she laughs and says it’s too tight. I reach for the woman standing behind her. I have dreamed about my wife everyday for the last thirteen months, but my dreams didn’t do her beauty justice. We pick up my pack and slowly make our way to the car. There are people around us applauding and taking pictures, but for me, there are only two people who exist.
The car pulls into the drive. My two-week vacation finally begins. I have made it to the place I’ve had in mind, a little house, in a tiny town, in the middle of Iowa. It won’t be found in any of the glossy travel brochures. It won’t make the top ten lists for vacation hot spots, or the top fifty for that matter. I don’t care. As the old saying goes…there’s no place like home.
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I am so glad that the soldier made it home alive. I can't express my thanks for the many men and women who put their lives on the line every day.
You wrote of things such as- "wearing resentment like a second skin for protection," as if you had been there.
Excellent writing and congratulations on your win.
God bless~