The Marine

It was the year 1990...Vanessa, age 20 was traveling back from Walt Disney World with her father Jack and younger sister Jeanine. They were on their layover, killing time at the check in terminal for their next flight leaving Alanta, Georgia and heading into Kennedy Airport. Vanessa happened to glance at a newspaper resting on a chair in the reception area. The headlines caught her eye. Vanessa picked it up and read the article further. It was at that very moment, that she discovered that her hometown boyfriend Tom who was in the Marines was being deployed to the Middle East!

The two had only been together for five months. Four of which had been a long-distance relationship. Now Thomas was about to be shipped out to war. Who knows when Vanessa will get to see him again. If ever. She pushed that second thought out of her head. Think Positive, Think Positive. She whispered to herself. Vanessa had just seen him the month prior, when she flew out to California, for a one-week visit, once her semester ended at college.

The two had faithfully written letters to one another back and forth at least three to four times a week. She was invited on a weekly basis over to his grandparents' house to see pictures of him that he sent home to the family to see. In addition, this dedicated girlfriend had gone to events in town in tribute to the troops overseas wearing her " My boyfriend is a Marine" t-shirt. She was only 20 years old, yet sure this would be the man that she would one day marry.

The two now young adults had gone to high school together yet were from different social circles. Vanessa was a shy one, where Tommy was more outgoing, a big shot on the varsity football team. Always the one to throw the parties, where Vanessa never even went to parties.

Yet they formed a connection, they believed was rare and deep enough to go the distance. This couple was most definitely no doubt interested in seeing where it would take them. Not to mention the chemistry they had in the bedroom was off the charts.

The two would talk about anything and everything. You name it, faith, family, friends, foes, they discussed it. Their letters were long, their letters were deep. One thing for certain, them letters had kept Tom's morale up, during those long and dark lonely days in the dessert.

Once Tom had returned back to the States in March, the long distance couple had made a plan for Vanessa to fly out to the base in 29 Palms, CA in April and spend two weeks with Tom,

While Vanessa was out west visiting, Tom proposed to Vanessa and she said yes! He took leave and flew to Connecticut to see her and his family in May. The family threw Tom a Welcome Back from War/ Engagement Suprise Party at the Gun Club. Friends from high school as well as families of both Vanessa and Thomas were in attendance at that event.

That summer, Tom asked Vanessa to spend the whole summer between semesters with him, to get to know one another better, now that they were planning a future together. Tom got them a modest studio cottage out in town just a few miles from the base. The place cost only $275 a month and was located in the middle of the dessert. The couple nicknamed it the love shack.

The happy engaged couple winded up getting married eventually and having two sons together. They named their kids Patrick and Ryan. Tom reenlisted in the United States Marines Corps, and they were stationed in both Long Island, and then Camp Lejeune NC. He did 6 additional years following his first enlistment.

During their time in North Carolina. Vanessa was invited to a church by a neighbor, where she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Before that, she had religion in her life yet never a personal intimate relationship with the Risen Lord. While she was up north, Christianity was just introduced to Vanessa as long list of do's and don'ts. Not a Savior who wanted to truly be one's closest friend & strongest supporter. During the years following their marriage, when Tom battled post war PTSD, and that led to the abuse of his wife and serial infidelity on Tom's part, Vanessa needs the comfort of Jesus to help her get through some dark and lonely times being stationed far from everyone she knew back home.

There were no cell phones back then to text, and although she made a lot of calls, they were still charging for long distance calling, and their bills racked up to $350 a month easy. So that had to stop. Vanessa felt so isolated.

Until she decided that she was ready to start a new chapter, and leave her marriage, so her kids did not have to grow up in a household where their parents had hostility towards one another and no longer liked each other.

That was bound to upset any child's nervous system. Her kids were 5 and 2 at the time and beginning to pick up on the fact that their daddy was never at home and when he was, he was either distant or really mean to their mom. So, she prayed about and finally felt the best course of action was to divorce her husband.

Patrick and Ryan are now 33 and 30. I guess the morale of the story is to never underestimate the power of the written word on pen and paper, it is powerful enough to start chapters that change the entire course of someone's life.

In spite of the abuse she endured, she would do it all over again, although maybe leave a little sooner, but stay long enough to have been able to bring these two amazing new people into this world, her sons, who are by far good humans, and her favorite people. This all was possible because Vanessa loved to write and was a good communicator. A gift given to her by God the Father. The End.