A soldier's Christmas: Confessions of an Army mom

Photo courtesy of the Redner family

This year my sister Chris got an extraordinary Christmas present: Her son Ryan, along with Ryan's wife Misty and daughter Bella, came too see them for Christmas. It was to be a surprise for my brother-in-law, John. It made the front page of the local paper, the "Mebane Enterprise," and you can read it here.

What I loved most about the story, however, was my sister's "Letter to the Editor," which ran with the news piece. I've adapted her letter, with her permission, here on my blog.

Chris writes: "When Ryan first announced his intention to join the Army, I was torn between apprehension, pride, and a sense of loss at the realization that my baby had grown up. I learned rather quickly that this is a permanent state of emotion for an Army mom. New Army recruits are give basic training. There is no such luxury for Army moms. ...

"Particularly if your soldier is now married with a young child, Army moms take a backseat to Army wives, as they should. ... But for a few precious days, Sergeant Redner will simply be 'Ryan' again, and I will get to be just 'Mom.' I plan to spend a lot of time freezing his crooked grin in my memory taking in the sound of my granddaughter's giggles, and spending some time reacquainting myself with my extraordinary daughter-in-law.

"Ryan, you all are my present this year, and you're more than I could ever ask for."

On this the feast of the Holy Family, I wanted to share this story and ask my readers to join me in praying for peace. Sergeant Ryan Redner is scheduled to redeploy to Iraq at the end of January. Wouldn't it be wonderful — the best gift of all — if he could stay home for good?

Heidi Hess Saxton is a contributing writer to AnnArbor.com's 'parenting' channel and a graduate student at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. She blogs at "Extraordinary Moms Network" for families of adopted, foster, and special-needs children. You can reach her at heidi.hess.saxton@gmail.com.