My heart was anxious all morning, and Anna and I mentioned several times we felt as if we might lose it. I was nervous because I wasn't sure how it was all going to work out: Would this get Daniel in trouble? Would I even see him? How was his jump going to go?
We arrived at the field and waited. We waited for any sighting or anything that would bring us a connection to our men. Off in the distance the huge plane could be heard making it's way to the zone. All of a sudden there it was, the large plane (that my Dad actually flew while he was in the Marines!) that carried our loves. The smoke started billowing in the field (which come to find out was for the soldiers to know in which direction the wind blew), and men were yanked from the plane's belly.
5 times the plane came with the Rangers. Between the 5 of us, we had 2 pairs of binoculars with which we tried to discern which of the soldiers was ours (we were watching them walk in from the field). One of the pairs was a child's National Geographic binocular, and the other had only 1 eye. Needless to say we couldn't find our men!
The last plane flew by and we waited, yet again, for another chance to see our Husbands. After they jumped and walked the field, they were to go behind a cluster of trees so we could not see them. We were waiting to see them board the buses and were hoping for a glimpse of them in the bus as they drove by. While we waited, 2 of the Instructors came and told us that Alpha Company (Daniel's company as well as Steve's company) was not to jump because of the approaching storm. Daniel didn't jump! And he wasn't behind the trees about to load the bus. My heart was disappointed for it had felt such comfort to just think I was close to him. Yet my heart was also thankful that Daniel didnt jump since he was nervous for injuries.
Although Daniel and Steve did not jump, Jimmy, Anna's husband, did. We quickly piled into the car and waited for the buses to pass. And there he was. Jimmy, sitting with his face against the window, staring at his wife. His face held a look of forlorn confusion and his hand simply opened and closed in a wave as the bus once again took him from his wife.
We all screamed when we saw his face~ and then we all cried when the bus had passed. What a blessing to have seen him! To know he was ok! But how wretched as well to be so close but still so far away.
BUT... only 4 more wake-ups until Friday and our lovely 8 hour pass! Tirzah and I can hardly wait
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