They were staring me down-
That stack of papers scattered about the table.
Reds and whites and blues,
The colors that symbolize our nation’s freedom,
A word that possesses the four letter word that excites us all-free.
But its funny then how freedom does not come cheap.
The men and women who die so that we may live carefree.
This is what scared me.
I cut the papers into long strips.
Strips that my siblings and I would then
Curl around and fasten into circles that we linked together.
A chain of some sort that represented much more
Than what was seen to the eye.
The chain grew.
Day by day we added a link,
Alternating the colors red, white, and blue.
Day by day, our hearts beamed because with each addition of a link,
It was a day closer to the return my father.
The chain began to wrap around our house,
Woven through the staircase and down the aisle of the hall,
Taped along the wall and hung with pride.
But I wanted my father home.
He had been gone for a eight months now,
Eight months too long.
I replayed in my mind over and over again
How fast I would run to him in the airport when he came home.
When that day came,
I sprinted.
I jumped into his uniformed arms and cried for what seemed like hours.
My heart was beating uncontrollably fast and at this point, and
At this young of an age,
I knew.
I knew what happiness felt like.
The chain wrapped around my heart was cut loose
And I was no longer believed that God was against me.
I knew what happiness felt like.