Last week, Mario went to a deployment briefing. I was supposed to go but wasn't feeling up to it. They briefed him on some of the special programs that they have for families of the deployed member. Some of these benefits include free oil changes, free dinners, and special events. One of these special events was called Adopt-A-Bairman. Our whole family was invited to go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum yesterday so the kids could build a special bear. Each bear came with a chip in it so the deploying member of the family can record a special message to each of his kids that they can listen to while he is gone.
We got to the event a little late because we had the piano recital first. But the timing was great because our family was the only one left to build our bears. So the base Public Affairs office took tons of pictures of our family and asked to interview Mario for the base news. I got a little teary eyed when Mario had to record his messages to the kids. He asked each of the kids what they wanted him to say. Most said simply "I love you." But Eric wanted Mario to say a phrase that Mario frequently says..."Stand by."
I know we are one of the lucky families. We will get to communicate with Mario almost daily. My heart goes out to those families whose husband/father is deployed to remote parts of Afghanistan or Iraq and have very little contact.
2 comments:
how sweet!
When I was telling dad about it yeterday, I could hardly talk because of crying. It was really emotional thinking that Mario going to record his voice a special message for each of the kids. that is so great that you will be able to communicate daily.
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