Today Loran left Ft. Benning

As I was typing an email to Loran this evening, I decided that I wanted to share some of it here...

"...yes, it is totally okay to be a little sad. You lived in Columbus longer than you have lived anywhere else. You worked on Ft. Benning longer than you have worked anywhere else.

You, my love, are a soldier, an infantryman, and always will be. To leave Ft. Benning, the Home of the Infantry, is to leave a little piece of yourself.

Other than that day in church when I realized it was real, today after talking with you while you were leaving was the only other time I cried over leaving Georgia and that is because of all that Ft. Benning means to ME. I can't imagine how you must have felt, especially spending a little time visiting an area with soldiers present.

I am sad too, because there are a lot of memories in Georgia that I will never leave behind. I "met" you while you were in Georgia (although technically I guess you were in Virginia when you responded via eHarmony the first time). I met Julia in Georgia. I got married to the most wonderful man EVER in Georgia. The two jewels of my heart were conceived and born in Georgia. They both started talking there and walking there. I owned my first house in Georgia. The first church I was ever a member of (during adulthood) was in Georgia. My first anniversary was spent in Georgia. I made some of the best friends I could ask for while I was in Georgia.

So many fundamental firsts in my life happened while living in Georgia.

As much as I wanted to move to Wisconsin and I am glad that we did, I will miss Georgia and all that it has given me. A piece of me will be in Georgia forever (and not just my gall bladder... :-))."

I know that I was excited to leave and get started here, but the awful reality of what I left behind hits me today as I realize that we may never set foot in Columbus, Georgia again. I hope we will but...well, one never knows.

For those I left behind, know that I miss you, and as Rosie so eloquently put it, "If I don't see you again on earth, at least I'll see you in Heaven". I look forward to it!