The Military Family

We plant trees and gardens
We may never see grown,
Empty rooms and boxes
We turn into a home.
New Friends, new faces
Become quite routine
As we move coast-to-coast
And sometimes in between.
We are used to goodbyes
As our Soldiers depart,
Though physically gone,
They are close in our hearts.
We keep up our spirits
As time travels on,
Knowing each day that passes
Gets them closer to home.
We can be sentimental,
Our freedom, we prize.
A patriotic song can draw tears from our eyes.
The sounding of Taps,
the lives that were lost,
We know better than most
What freedom can cost.
We have love for our country,
Great pride in this land
The love for our Soldiers
Gives us strength to withstand
All the heartache, the loneliness,
The trials and the tears
The wrenching goodbyes,
the sadness and fears.
Though there be hardships
Sadness is not all we know,
After goodbyes come welcomes
And heroes' hellos.
We are proud of our Soldiers
And we always will be.
Where they go--we go
The Military Family.

By Kathleen McCauley