My Veteran =)

Growing up...

My mom tells me that when I was two I really started to realize that "daddy was gone." I walked around the house crying, "daddy ran away..daddy ran away and he's not coming back." After a few days of this dad finally called home during the day time so I could talk to him.

I remember crying in my bed in Mississippi, my dad came running to my side. He asked me what I was crying about. I was in first grade and we had just gotten orders to Yokota. I told him that if we moved to Japan, Jesus wouldn't know what 'temple' we were living in and He couldn't find us when He came back. Looking back I giggle at the innocence, but really hope I can be quick to my words with my kids as my dad was with me...very quickly I remember him telling me that Jesus and Santa run the same route, that Japan is hours ahead so Jesus would come get us, then come back and get my friends here in Mississippi next...he always had an answer.

I remember always trying to sneak Pop-tarts or granola bars in his bag when my mom was packing...my mom would leave the room to grab something, and in I would come, snacks and all!! Just wanted to make sure he would have plenty of snacks!

I remember sitting in my hot tub in Jr. High one night asking my dad why we couldn't just live somewhere for more than two years...that it was not "fair" that I could not live somewhere and play a sport in one school, with one coach. I had just come to the realization that not everyone moves every two years...little did I know that four-five years later I would not change a thing about the 'on the go' lifestyle we were raised in.

I remember sitting in the principle's chair in second grade on my birthday....my dad was gone, but called the school talk to me and to wish me a happy birthday =) My dad became the coolest dad in that school that day!

I remember getting "briefings" growing up when John and I had our family talks from dad...when he was TDY, they turned into Power Point presentations e-mailed to us....(totally not kidding) I think we had one that turned the AF core value, "Integrity First, Service Before Self and Excellence in All We Do" into our Thornton family value....and I remember one about "the difference between good and great."

I remember having sleep-overs on nights when my dad would fly late in Yokota....and loving it when he came home with a dozen glow-sticks from the plane ride =D

The time to ask dad money was when he got home from flying! He was always a happy giver!
(Last flight in a C-130 pictured above)

I remember reading Exodus when he left for Yemen my senior year in high school. I had just read the story of Aaron, Moses, and Hur for the first time. I remember praying and journaling that dad wold have an "Aaron" in his life overseas lifting his hands high when he was too weak. Anytime I'd get a little spooked by the news, I would pray "Aaron" was sitting next to my dad...and still do today.

I could always tell when he had been to Germany, he came home with Kinder Eggs, Coo-Coo Clocks, and a lead foot!

I remember always asking what kind of "funny money" he had brought home from another country. Then randomly asking to look at the stash of random bills and coins he had collected from other countries.

He always has a story, and I love to listen. I think it's cool he's been to all the major countries and every single continent.

I remember thinking he was completely nuts when he called me at 6AM the day I was moving my stuff out of the dorms at the end of my sophomore year, asking me if I was ready (eek, secretly I still had EVERYTHING on my walls and only had packed my clothes.....) But when he called 30 minutes later, re-waking me up, I called mom. She said he was pacing and ready to get me and my stuff, HA!.....Always ready to help! Even as we moved recently to Kansas City, he helped pack up the house in no time!

I remember previously that year walking to class and soooo incredibly upset of the idea of my dad in "war." I had always just thought of my dad going over to the Middle East and working in a tent or an office...the idea of him 'playing' in the office, building a sand castle, or touring a random city...I think reality sank in knowing that THAT was not work...or what the military prepares for. I walked across campus looking at my shoes the whole time, sat in my Psychology class, took my test then just gazed at the answers. I waited till I was the last one to turn in my test and when I had finally locked eyes with someone, Dr. Wingo (only the best professor ever) I burst into tears...we talked in her office for a while and later that week I declared my major in Psychology.

"Be careful, don't be hasty, and kick...butt."

I remember when he retired my mom was always talking about him getting set up with an appointment at the VA hospital and thinking that was just crazy because he wasn't "old" and he wasn't a "veteran." But again, he didn't exactly build sand castles in the middle east, and he is a grandpa after all=)