She wants to talk to her Daddy!

She saw on the news, how they killed "the bad guy", and she got sad. "I'm sad that we killed the bad guy. Even when people are bad, we should love them." And I knew right then, I had to tell her more than she was ever told before.

"Anika, when you came out of my tummy at the hospital, Daddy wasn't there. Daddy was in a place called Iraq. He was helping to go get that bad guy."

"Daddy wasn't there? Did they kill Daddy?"

"No, honey. He wasn't there. And no, they didn't kill Daddy. Daddy's main job was protecting the marines and other troops when they would go into the scary places."

You see, the Marine Corps has Daddy away right now. He's been at a school far enough away that he's gone during the week, but close enough that he gets to come home on the weekends. He left to head back yesterday evening. Anika knows he's with Marines. She is anxious, she is worried.

"I'm still mad that we hurt that bad guy."

"Anika, that bad guy killed a whole lot of people, lots of daddies. And when Daddy was in Iraq, when you were born, that bad guy sent his friends to shoot at Daddy and the other Marines that were with him. God kept all of them safe and they came home ok. They tried to kill Daddy, honey. This was a very bad man."

"THEY TRIED TO KILL MY DADDY?????" "Yes. They wanted to kill him and all the Marines that were there." "So it's good that they killed the bad guy?" "Anika, I don't know what God thinks, but I know that I'm a little happy about it. It's sad he had to die, but I'm so glad he won't be planning to kill anymore people."

"Wait, my Daddy wasn't there when you pushed me out?" she asks with a frown.

"No, he was gone, being a hero. You're Daddy is a hero! I will find the pictures of when he got to come home and he finally met you. You were almost 4 months old and you fell in love with him right away."

She's nearing 5. May 28th, 2006 was the day she was born, her Daddy in Iraq. And right now, after hearing the news from Washington, I finally feel ok that her Daddy wasn't here. And while he's away at academy, becoming a better Marine, I'm ok with it. I wasn't yesterday, but I am now. They have a purpose..... to stop the bad guys from hurting innocent people.


Proud of my Marine!!!!!!