he had ever seen Wall-E. Speaking of Wall-E, how adorable is it when a child latches onto a certain movie? It’s cute in the innocent way but downright annoying on the 3rd viewing of the day. It’s a real horse race between Wall-E and Finding Nemo as to which is Jadon’s favorite movie. I try to lead him in other directions, like The Lion King, Aladdin, Cars, etc., but he has stayed true to his roots. In a further attempt for Celia and I to keep our sanity we recently splurged on plethora of Disney movies to broaden Jadon’s television viewing; besides, it gives me an excellent reason to buy A Bug’s Life. Before I dive into everything that is my “Welcome Home” blog there is something else I’ve noticed recently. I spoke in my brief update (see previous blog) about how I have lived near the grill since I got home from Iraq. On many of nights I have grilled the most mouth watering, flavorful tenderloins you could possibly imagine. They were so delicious that they. . . . . I’ve been thinking for 10 minutes for the proper analogy but nothing is worthy; they were truly LEGENDARY! As good as they were Jadon felt differently. I could grill a steak worthy of starting my own business but my son will instead opt for a cheese hot dog, I don’t get it.I tell these stories of Jadon because it feels so good to be home. From the moment I saw Jadon, Hailey,
and Celia in the gymnasium holding up a sign that read, “Welcome Home Daddy Dale” I have had nothing but good times and good stories. I tell more stories of Jadon than Hailey because Jadon is to the age where his personality is really coming to the surface. Hailey is still living the good life and the little princess knows it. She knows that all she has to do is smile or let out a small cry and I cannot resist to do anything other than hold her. I’m a total sucker and my daughter the diva knows it. She has managed to manipulate her way into bed for the evening with Mommy and Daddy, and even more impressive is how a 13 lb. girl can hog a queen size bed. I do have a funny story of Hailey sleeping in bed with us. This morning at 3:00 a.m. Hailey woke up crying so I grabbed a few diapers to give her a late night change. In the middle of her changing, she decides to dirty the clean diaper before I could finish. I woke Celia up to get me a few more diapers because if I left Hailey alone with the diaper unsecured she would roll in the sheets giving our bedding a nice shade of baby green. In the process of putting on clean diaper #2 Hailey snuck another turd by me and dirtied that diaper too. It was bad enough that it was 3:00 a.m. and I had to wake up in just a bit more than 2 hours but to add insult to the changing marathon was Hailey was laughing at me saying, “You know you love me Daddy!”
and Celia in the gymnasium holding up a sign that read, “Welcome Home Daddy Dale” I have had nothing but good times and good stories. I tell more stories of Jadon than Hailey because Jadon is to the age where his personality is really coming to the surface. Hailey is still living the good life and the little princess knows it. She knows that all she has to do is smile or let out a small cry and I cannot resist to do anything other than hold her. I’m a total sucker and my daughter the diva knows it. She has managed to manipulate her way into bed for the evening with Mommy and Daddy, and even more impressive is how a 13 lb. girl can hog a queen size bed. I do have a funny story of Hailey sleeping in bed with us. This morning at 3:00 a.m. Hailey woke up crying so I grabbed a few diapers to give her a late night change. In the middle of her changing, she decides to dirty the clean diaper before I could finish. I woke Celia up to get me a few more diapers because if I left Hailey alone with the diaper unsecured she would roll in the sheets giving our bedding a nice shade of baby green. In the process of putting on clean diaper #2 Hailey snuck another turd by me and dirtied that diaper too. It was bad enough that it was 3:00 a.m. and I had to wake up in just a bit more than 2 hours but to add insult to the changing marathon was Hailey was laughing at me saying, “You know you love me Daddy!”My timeline for this story is way off; it’s about as crooked as Back to the Future Part II (BTTF2) when Doc Brown illustrates for Marty the alternate universe they are living in. Speaking of BTTF2, I was 8 or 9 years old when that movie came out and never in the history of cinema has a movie captured my creative mind the way Spielberg did. The flying car, the hover board, clothes that dry themselves, the tiny pizza’s, and finally the never ending fascination with the 80’s. The point to this unintended tangent is we are 5 ½ years from the year 2015, the setting for the beginning of BTTF2 and we are nowhere close to achieving the future I once envisioned as a boy. Don’t we, as a global society, owe it to ourselves and our inner child to unveil the flying car? However, in coming to terms with reality I can understand the setbacks to the marvels of the future given the economy and all, right hon? (That last part referring the economy was for Celia, a running inside joke we have.)
I was talking about the timeline for this story before so therefore I have to step back a bit. Before any memories could be created with Celia or the kids, I first had to be reunited with them. This came during the welcome home ceremony that was held for our battalion. I stepped off a bus that brought me to the gymnasium where the ceremony was being held and instantly could hear the hundreds of friends and family inside the gym eagerly awaiting our entrance. We were formed up outside and marched inside where we were treated like rock stars. The gymnasium was absolutely deafening that it was impossible for me to not get caught up in the moment. Instantly my eyes began scanning the crowd for Celia and the kids with no luck initially. I knew what sign to look for because Celia had shown me her sign on the webcam a few days prior with the intention of, well me knowing what to look for. All march
ing had stopped and our battalion was formed up and out of the corner of my eye I saw it, “Welcome Home Daddy Dale.” It was past midnight but Jadon was still up and so was Hailey. Celia was holding Jadon and I could see that her eyes were ferociously scanning the 200 plus soldiers that entered the gym. We were on opposite sides of the gym and I knew the possibility of Celia seeing me was very slim so I waited. I waited until my Battalion Commander said “Dismissed” and moved straight for my wife. Family members were dashing out of the bleachers and other soldiers were running towards their loved ones; I moved quickly dodging all of them while never once taking my eyes off Celia. I was getting closer and I could tell that Celia still had not seen me. 20 feet, 15 feet, and 10 feet Celia had still not seen me. Families were still running to every part of the gym while many others were already embracing in the long anticipated reunion. I never broke stride moving closer, 5 feet, 3 feet, and finally 2 feet where I eyes finally locked. Without breaking stride, I moved straight into Celia’s arms, closed my eyes, and kissed my beautiful wife like it was the first time we ever kissed.
ing had stopped and our battalion was formed up and out of the corner of my eye I saw it, “Welcome Home Daddy Dale.” It was past midnight but Jadon was still up and so was Hailey. Celia was holding Jadon and I could see that her eyes were ferociously scanning the 200 plus soldiers that entered the gym. We were on opposite sides of the gym and I knew the possibility of Celia seeing me was very slim so I waited. I waited until my Battalion Commander said “Dismissed” and moved straight for my wife. Family members were dashing out of the bleachers and other soldiers were running towards their loved ones; I moved quickly dodging all of them while never once taking my eyes off Celia. I was getting closer and I could tell that Celia still had not seen me. 20 feet, 15 feet, and 10 feet Celia had still not seen me. Families were still running to every part of the gym while many others were already embracing in the long anticipated reunion. I never broke stride moving closer, 5 feet, 3 feet, and finally 2 feet where I eyes finally locked. Without breaking stride, I moved straight into Celia’s arms, closed my eyes, and kissed my beautiful wife like it was the first time we ever kissed. Even though I had not endured the full 14 months of the deployment like the vast majority of the s
oldiers returning I was gone long enough to know that reconnecting with Celia was the happiest moment with just her since our wedding day. I kissed her over and over as we both were oblivious to the hundreds of other people who were surrounding us. After I finally unlocked tongues with Celia I moved toward Jadon who surprisingly did not shy away from me. I hugged and kissed my boy and could not believe at how much he had grown. The next thing I asked was, “Where’s Hailey?” I saw a woman holding a baby but did not think the baby was mine. Sure, I had seen Hailey on the webcam almost every night but this baby was huge. The last time I saw my daughter at the Frankfurt Airport she could barely keep her eyes open and weighed all of 6 lbs. I was speechless at how large Hailey had gotten since last saw her; but I picked her up, kissed her cheek and whispered to her, “I love you and missed you so much princess.”
oldiers returning I was gone long enough to know that reconnecting with Celia was the happiest moment with just her since our wedding day. I kissed her over and over as we both were oblivious to the hundreds of other people who were surrounding us. After I finally unlocked tongues with Celia I moved toward Jadon who surprisingly did not shy away from me. I hugged and kissed my boy and could not believe at how much he had grown. The next thing I asked was, “Where’s Hailey?” I saw a woman holding a baby but did not think the baby was mine. Sure, I had seen Hailey on the webcam almost every night but this baby was huge. The last time I saw my daughter at the Frankfurt Airport she could barely keep her eyes open and weighed all of 6 lbs. I was speechless at how large Hailey had gotten since last saw her; but I picked her up, kissed her cheek and whispered to her, “I love you and missed you so much princess.” Since that night we have done nothing 
more than be a family. I shared a few things so far but everything I have not shared is simple everyday life that makes being a husband and father so great. I do have to say that the other day I built Jadon a fort in our living room out of blankets that he absolutely loved. The only way into the fort was through a tunnel and that boy lit up like Christmas morning. In addition, I have not been able to step outside and turn on the grill without my wingman, my son, Jadon. It’s great.
more than be a family. I shared a few things so far but everything I have not shared is simple everyday life that makes being a husband and father so great. I do have to say that the other day I built Jadon a fort in our living room out of blankets that he absolutely loved. The only way into the fort was through a tunnel and that boy lit up like Christmas morning. In addition, I have not been able to step outside and turn on the grill without my wingman, my son, Jadon. It’s great. There are many different directions I could have went with this blog, I know that. I let Celia ha
ve a quick glance at it and she was hoping I would have included more of the voyage back to Germany. I’m sure many of you envisioned this differently but doing it this way just felt right, telling why I love being home and ending with how I got home. I said there were a lot of different ways I could have approached this blog and there were a lot of ways I could have ended it too. There really is no better way to wrap this up other than locking lips with Celia and holding my children. In closing, it’s good to be Daddy Dale.
ve a quick glance at it and she was hoping I would have included more of the voyage back to Germany. I’m sure many of you envisioned this differently but doing it this way just felt right, telling why I love being home and ending with how I got home. I said there were a lot of different ways I could have approached this blog and there were a lot of ways I could have ended it too. There really is no better way to wrap this up other than locking lips with Celia and holding my children. In closing, it’s good to be Daddy Dale.
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