Driving home Friday night after Elijah's basketball game, I stopped at the mailbox as I pulled into the driveway. I hurriedly grabbed the mail without looking at it, as Fonzy and Elijah were following behind me. When I parked, I flipped through the mail and found a letter from Ezekiel! He's been gone since January 9th for Air Force basic training and this was the first letter I received. I got out the truck and yelled over to Fonzy that I had a letter from Ezekiel! We rushed into the house and before we did anything else, we opened his letter.
Huddled together in the dining room, I read his letter out loud. It wasn't a long letter, just one page, but it meant everything to me. I've been worrying about him since he left, not sleeping well and having strange dreams about him. His letter put my soul at ease. I could picture him, sitting on his bunk writing, remembering on the day he wrote that it was my birthday. He had us laughing as he told Fonzy all the push-ups he made him do growing up when he left the light on in his room helped! And that basic training was nothing like Full Metal Jacket, a movie they should not have watched when they were little, but did one summer when Fonzy was off with them. He said they just yelled a lot, but had nothing on me!
The next morning as I was drinking my coffee, I read the letter again. It brought Ezekiel back home to me, even for just for a few minutes. And that's the magic of letters.
Pictured - envelope art for letters I have going out this week.
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