Kat SWG
Reunion
As soon as the ceremony ended on Family Day, everybody started pouring out of the bleachers. I had never had the urge to seriously push an elderly person before that day. So I rush to the bottom of the steps just to wait in line behind a ton of people, and I kept thinking that they couldn't possibly love who they were there to see as much as I love Teddy. So I was getting mad. I was squeezing through people. I claimed I really had to use the bathroom at one point. Finally I got to the stairs and remembered that I had to look presentable so while I have one hand on the railing, I was fixing my hair and makeup with the other in a really unproductive manner. Well one hand wasn't enough so I slipped and almost fell on the stairs. Of course.
My feet finally touched the grass and I see people running and some people had already found their soldier. And I have the urge to run so I sprint forward but then remember I'm wearing gladiators and start to briskly walk towards his company. I run down the side trying to focus on their faces and I don't see him. Then I run down the other side and I don't see him. All these people are uniting with their loved ones, and I couldn't find mine. And of course I want to find him before his family does because I want that initial reunion.
Somehow, I hear my mom (I still have no idea how she got down there that fast) and she's yelling for me, "There he is." And she just points to the middle of the company. And I finally saw him. He couldn't move at all. He had to look straight ahead, but I'm sure he saw the ridiculous girl running at him in his peripheral.
I have never acted on pure instinct like that before. I didn't think, I just jumped in his arms. I can't describe how it felt exactly. The best example I can give is holding your breath for three months and then finally getting what you need to carry on. Nothing else mattered. Being in his arms was just this extreme version of comfort and safety. Normally "comfort" and "safety" aren't very strong words, but that's what it was. I could do anything, risk anything, win or lose anything, as long as I could return to his arms.
After I squeezed him as hard as I could, I managed to pull away and said, "Is this the right person?" I had to read his name tag to be sure because I had just run through a hundred identical bodies. When I said that he and most of the people around us laughed, but I just went back to hugging him. I knew that because of the strict no PDA policy, as soon as that "greeting" was over I wouldn't get to hug him in public like that again.
I didn't let go until he started to acknowledge that his mom, step-dad, and sister were walking up. Then I had to share him, which I really, really didn't want to do. They hugged him and cried and everything, but I just kept thinking that I loved him more. I deserved him more.
Basically, I'm selfish.
Reunion
As soon as the ceremony ended on Family Day, everybody started pouring out of the bleachers. I had never had the urge to seriously push an elderly person before that day. So I rush to the bottom of the steps just to wait in line behind a ton of people, and I kept thinking that they couldn't possibly love who they were there to see as much as I love Teddy. So I was getting mad. I was squeezing through people. I claimed I really had to use the bathroom at one point. Finally I got to the stairs and remembered that I had to look presentable so while I have one hand on the railing, I was fixing my hair and makeup with the other in a really unproductive manner. Well one hand wasn't enough so I slipped and almost fell on the stairs. Of course.
My feet finally touched the grass and I see people running and some people had already found their soldier. And I have the urge to run so I sprint forward but then remember I'm wearing gladiators and start to briskly walk towards his company. I run down the side trying to focus on their faces and I don't see him. Then I run down the other side and I don't see him. All these people are uniting with their loved ones, and I couldn't find mine. And of course I want to find him before his family does because I want that initial reunion.
Somehow, I hear my mom (I still have no idea how she got down there that fast) and she's yelling for me, "There he is." And she just points to the middle of the company. And I finally saw him. He couldn't move at all. He had to look straight ahead, but I'm sure he saw the ridiculous girl running at him in his peripheral.
I have never acted on pure instinct like that before. I didn't think, I just jumped in his arms. I can't describe how it felt exactly. The best example I can give is holding your breath for three months and then finally getting what you need to carry on. Nothing else mattered. Being in his arms was just this extreme version of comfort and safety. Normally "comfort" and "safety" aren't very strong words, but that's what it was. I could do anything, risk anything, win or lose anything, as long as I could return to his arms.
After I squeezed him as hard as I could, I managed to pull away and said, "Is this the right person?" I had to read his name tag to be sure because I had just run through a hundred identical bodies. When I said that he and most of the people around us laughed, but I just went back to hugging him. I knew that because of the strict no PDA policy, as soon as that "greeting" was over I wouldn't get to hug him in public like that again.
I didn't let go until he started to acknowledge that his mom, step-dad, and sister were walking up. Then I had to share him, which I really, really didn't want to do. They hugged him and cried and everything, but I just kept thinking that I loved him more. I deserved him more.
Basically, I'm selfish.