The importance of Valentine’s Day has definitely gone up in our family.

One year ago my daughter, Dallas–she’s a professional photographer–started a photo-a-day project. Here’s Day 1, February 14, 2010:

Today, he brought me red roses and coffee, then made me breakfast. Later, he left for Afghanistan. He'll be back next year.

When Dallas was nineteen or twenty she infamously proclaimed she would never date a man in the military because she couldn’t handle the deployments. One should not tempt fate.

In December 2009 she met Edward White. From the first night, she knew he’d be shipping out come February. They had a two-month whirlwind affair anyway, and then he was gone.

But with Skype, chat, and text messaging they were together in some sense almost every day.

They were married in July when Ed came home on leave. He had two-and-a-half weeks with his bride before heading back to duty.

Now we’ve come full circle. This is the last post in my daughter’s photo journal, Day 366, February 14, 2011:

Today, I spent the morning doing last minute errands and prepping for dinner. Later, I went to Ft. Shafter and welcomed Ed home. ♥

How the US Army arranged for two such momentous occasions to occur on Valentine’s Day is a question for the mystics. We’re just overjoyed to have Ed back. This couple has paid some dues and earned their honeymoon!

And for all the other military families out there waiting for loved ones to return from overseas, we wish you the best.

Posted on: Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Categories: Meanderings.