Coming Home

Coming Home

Last Friday I went to the airport to pick up our middle daughter Dana and her Best Friend Larissa coming home from a tour halfway around the world.They left on Winter solstice and came back in time for Fall equinox. That's a long time and distance to have my umbilical cord stretched. Last night the girls slept under our roof and ahh that feeling, knowing our children are sleeping soundly downstairs pacifies the soul like nothing else. I had to have a lot of faith that while on they're journey they would be safe, in right place at the right time in a world that can instantly go very wrong, where violence can explode while thousands of innocent people are doing their daily coming and going or just sleeping in their beds. I know it was an awesome privilege for these two young women to wander blithely round the world, driving up the coast of Australia swimming with Manta rays off the great barrier reef, getting cozy with with Kangaroos and Koalas, Partying all night in the bars of Koh Smet in Thailand while the red shirts rioted in Bangkok, riding camels through the desert descending into the tombs of the pyramids, flying in a hot air balloon over the nile river in Egypt. scuba diving in the red sea. Walking through Cairo and all they could say was,This is old, this is really old, wow that's old. They Made mock confession at the Vatican in rome, rode on water busses through Venice, laughed the night away at the Edinburgh theater Festival in Scotland. learned drinking songs in English Pubs, Watched the World cup in Spain and countless other historical and hysterical hyjinks had by two brave, and beautiful young women whose soul purpose was to discover everything and wearing their trademark gorilla and banana suits, bring joy to the world. These two have gone beyond the confines of google and Facebook and sailed off into the wild blue yonder with faith and good humor and were rewarded with real time friends, family, cultural education and follies that I believe have only just begun. To them the world is a magnificent place. Upon their return I think of the thousands of Iraq war vets who are also coming home, gone not for months, but for years, enduring unimaginable circumstances always on the edge or in the midst of horrifying danger. To them the world is a terrible place. How did their parents endure their wives, husbands, kids? Soldiers came home for awkward interludes only to be redeployed back to the hell on earth that was their destination. It was hard enough to say goodbye to our kids leaving on holiday. How does a mother say goodbye to her son or daughter going off to kill an or be killed? And who are they when they come home? The majority of the soldiers returning from Iraq are the same age as my daughter, 22, so young and vulnerable. What's the damage? Our daughters have a bit of culture shock on returning to the states, Larissa dislocated her finger and Dana her knee overseas, luckily they were in England where they would and could get healthcare for free , but no post traumatic stress, brain injuries or nightmares of missions gone bad and babies gone blewy. Our girls suffered minor inconveniences and injuries unlike our soldiers whose life altering disabilities causing them unbearable pain and costing them thousands and thousands of dollars because the VA budget is so sadly depleted and mismanaged. I am relieved the war for them is "over" and they are coming home and yet many of us are deeply concerned about the lack of services, the intensity of injuries, both mental and physical. We see the statistics rising for veterans going off the deep end, committing suicide and at times bringing somebody we know with them as was the case last year when Jacob Gregory Swanson, 26, a former Army paratrooper who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, killed himself and his girlfriend in Fort Bragg

I've heard the argument that we send our kids off to war so we can maintain our national security, I've heard that freedom isn't free, that we have to root out the terrorists and destroy their networks, I can't help but think that sending our kids off in banana suits is a much better strategy for homeland security than flak jackets and kevlar vests. Backpacks full of music, ukeleles, books, and trail mix in lieu of ammunition, MREs. mortar rounds, flex cuffs, hand grenades. Our kids were diplomats, envoys who truly won the hearts and minds of people because they are funny and curious, filled with pleasantries and tales of the beauty and lifestyle of Mendocino county. They offered friendship and adventure instead of suspicion, racism, and orders to stand down, to surrender. So many of our youth join the military because there are no jobs available, there's plenty of money to send them to fight in wars, but none to send them on an cultural exchange mission, where the US does not dictate and occupy, but rather behaves as guests in someone's home. How much we have to learn from these ancient cultures, and yet our mission is to destroy and conquer. Oh when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn. Our kids are coming home now and unlike Dana and Larissa who's dreams are full of castles and trains and joyous bells ringing our veterans have haunting nightmares of sirens, night raids, IED's and blood, lots of blood. That must be addressed. How can we best help them recover their lives, their connection to community and a future that is peaceful, hopeful, healthy and prosperous. We can Call your local Veteran's administration at volunteer, make a donation. see if we can be of service to our veteran's or the family's they've come home to so we can all get a good night's sleep.