So today is the day. My daughter is leaving for CFB Trenton, from where she will fly out for her 6 month deployment overseas. To 'the sandbox', as it's called. Yes, she's a grown woman now. In her thirties and all. But just as with her sisters, she and they will always be my little girls. I can vividly remember going 'crabbing' with her and her little sister, at the end of the point by the jetty where the duty boat would come to pick us up, at the married quarters in Shannon Park.
How they would giggle and shriek when we would turn over a large rock, to uncover a big ol' crab, it's arms and claws outstretched in a defensive posture. Then we would manoeuvre an orange plastic pail around the back it and flick it in with a deft nudge of a yellow plastic shovel. There we would admire it for a spell, before releasing it back to it's hiding place. The lane leading down to the jetty was lined with wild primrose bushes. To this day I cannot smell a primrose, without my head and my heart being transported back to those simple, joyful days.
Those days gave way to fishing trips on the shores of Albro Lake. Where we would freeze our fingers in an April gale, while tempting stocked rainbow trout with cheese balls on a bare hook.
*Sigh!* So long ago now... It boggles the mind, the rate at which the years pass by. An old saying has it that life itself is much like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes, it seems. I think I have finally figured out what to enjoy, what is actually important. It would be a shame to leave all this anytime soon...
So yes, I'm concerned about my girl's well being. I'm concerned about her state of mind. I want to see her focus. To focus solely and entirely on the job at hand. Not to be distracted by what awaits her back home here. Not to concentrate on things that will not guarantee her safety and efficiency. She's not a silly person. She knows what's going on. She will be surrounded by some very good people. The best our country has to offer, if truth were known. So I don't fear for her personal safety so much. For her time to go by quickly, she must become one with the mission. She must immerse herself into the operational necessity of her job. She must absorb as much as she can of her surroundings and this, her new reality.
I am proud of her. So very proud... For who she is, for what she is doing...
She is always on my mind and in my heart. All my children are. But this time, her more than most. And when she comes back, maybe we'll find time to go wet a line. Maybe we can coax her sister to come along as well. It would be so nice to be able to recapture that moment in time...
How they would giggle and shriek when we would turn over a large rock, to uncover a big ol' crab, it's arms and claws outstretched in a defensive posture. Then we would manoeuvre an orange plastic pail around the back it and flick it in with a deft nudge of a yellow plastic shovel. There we would admire it for a spell, before releasing it back to it's hiding place. The lane leading down to the jetty was lined with wild primrose bushes. To this day I cannot smell a primrose, without my head and my heart being transported back to those simple, joyful days.
Those days gave way to fishing trips on the shores of Albro Lake. Where we would freeze our fingers in an April gale, while tempting stocked rainbow trout with cheese balls on a bare hook.
*Sigh!* So long ago now... It boggles the mind, the rate at which the years pass by. An old saying has it that life itself is much like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes, it seems. I think I have finally figured out what to enjoy, what is actually important. It would be a shame to leave all this anytime soon...
So yes, I'm concerned about my girl's well being. I'm concerned about her state of mind. I want to see her focus. To focus solely and entirely on the job at hand. Not to be distracted by what awaits her back home here. Not to concentrate on things that will not guarantee her safety and efficiency. She's not a silly person. She knows what's going on. She will be surrounded by some very good people. The best our country has to offer, if truth were known. So I don't fear for her personal safety so much. For her time to go by quickly, she must become one with the mission. She must immerse herself into the operational necessity of her job. She must absorb as much as she can of her surroundings and this, her new reality.
I am proud of her. So very proud... For who she is, for what she is doing...
She is always on my mind and in my heart. All my children are. But this time, her more than most. And when she comes back, maybe we'll find time to go wet a line. Maybe we can coax her sister to come along as well. It would be so nice to be able to recapture that moment in time...
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