FAMILYDAY

The picture on the left is the last picture of Mark that I took before getting back on the bus/train/plane back to Iraq, he was about 10 days old in this picture. The picture on the right is the newest picture that my sweetie has sent me. Mark is about 3.5 months old in this one.

When I look at the newer pictures of Mark my initial thought is, "Hey, that's a cute kid!" Then I remember that he's MY kid.

Before troops go back home, the Army sends us to a bunch of different briefings that try and prepare us for life outside the war zone. In one of those briefings we hear a guy tell us that even though we've been gone for a year that the world has kept spinning and that things have changed back home. "It won't be the same as when you left," they tell us.

When I first left for Iraq, my wife was barely (emphasis on barely) showing that she was pregnant. When I came back for R&R she was 9 months pregnant and when I left again for Iraq we had an adorable little prune named Mark. Now I see pictures and videos of this little person smiling, wiggling, making noise. Yeah, things have changed.