It was March, 2005 and we drove through a snowstorm to see my son in law get off of the plane in Minneapolis for his mid deployment leave. We were all at the gate (my daughter, granddaughter, my husband, me, and my son in law's parents) with our signs waiting and waiting. Because of the storm there were many people in the area waiting for delayed and cancelled flights. Finally a plane pulled up to the gate and Cory and another guy came through the gate. As they did, everyone in the crowd began applauding and cheering. It was an awesome moment. Fast forward to Sept. of 06 when a similar group waited at a suburban armory for my oldest son to come home from his deployment. There were signs and flags and finally the buses arrived. And the guy who was always the last one out of the locker room was the first one off of the bus. We didn't know what to do because he had never been first before! Finally his girlfriend broke the spell and began the hugs and greetings. Fast forward again to July of 07 when my youngest son was returning from a 22 month deployment (he was part of the Iraqi surge). It was one of those perfect MN days. The buses were escorted by police officers and Patriot guards. There were tons of people. When the guys were finally released from their formation I wondered how we would ever find him when all of a sudden the crowd parted a little and my husband said "there he is" and I ran to hug my boy! There have been 2 more deployments and other moments, but these have been the sweetest of all so far. I am so proud of each of them.

Loretta Monson
Pine City, MN