Deployment: Losing Touch With Traditions

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A couple months into our deployment I was talking with our daughter and the subject of one of our favorite little family "things" came up. I don't know how to better define things than as little things you do that are special to your family. We have special kisses: the strawberry kiss, the banana kiss, the chocolate chip kiss. We have special things we do together and special ways we do things that are so beautifully precious to our tribe.

In that conversation with our daughter, we realized we had totally forgotten about one of our family things since Daddy has left. It struck me a little bit hard to realize that with us apart, we would forget things we used to do together. We would forget special memories that were kept alive by our routine and our time together. That was a sad blow. I mourned that for a while.

Now that we're three-quarters through our year apart, I am finding solace in the fact that over time all families forget little memories. It's a normal part of living, of time passing. I have also been thinking about the new traditions we have created over the past year. I dare say that just for fun our little girl will use her tiny laptop to Skype Daddy when he's at his desk here working, just for fun.

She thinks it's hilarious to Skype me 10 feet away in the kitchen, although I can't bear it because the computers, due to their proximity often made horribly high pitched squealing noises. I cringe a bit in anticipation of that ear-piercing blast every time I hear the now joyous and familiar chimes of an incoming Skype call and then realize it's not Mr. Hart at all but that little cutie calling me from across the room. I dare say she'll get quite a lot of joy in doing the same to her dad.

We also have important new people in our life like Daddy Doll, who is guardian over the house when we are away. Clementine loves to laugh and scream "Oooh, disgusting," when I pretend to give Daddy Doll a kiss. Even better if I preface my kiss with "H-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i Handsome!"

She has a new tradition of doing karate over Skype with her martial arts loving Dad. They'll have great fun doing that in person. So even though we've lost a little bit of our history being apart for a year, we've added to it too. And perhaps these memories, these deployment memories, we will carry with us throughout our lives. It has been a poignant time. As I talk to Clementine and realize she is starting to forget a lot of things that happened when she was little, I imagine deployment and first grade will likely stay with her for life. She's old enough to remember and carry these memories with her.

I hope these new memories will remind all of us how strong we are, how much we love each other and that we can do hard things when requires. I hope we'll remember our sacrifice for our country and have warm, loving and patriotic feelings toward this great homeland of ours for generations to come. Yes, there have been losses to mourn during this year of deployment. Yes, it is hard, it's still difficult. But I hope we carry with us the memories of how it made us better, individually, as a family, and a world.