I suppose I will start by saying that I had planned on writing "Part II" of our Dan's homecoming from Afghanistan many, many moons ago (you can find the original "Homecoming" post here). I thought I'd just wait a few weeks for the remainder of our homecoming photos that were free, thanks to OpLove and one of their volunteer photographers. In hindsight, if I could've changed one thing, I would've just had my friend Jess come and take the photos. We saw the "sneak peek" posted the day after his homecoming, but I continued to wait, and wait, and wait for the rest.
I contacted the photographer several times, and she responded every few messages, though the last time she responded to my correspondence was in October of last year. Months after our homecoming. She said that she was finishing them up, and then I never heard from her again, despite trying. Not only has she avoided me, she took down a negative review I had left on her Facebook photography page. All of her paying clients were receiving their photos, despite having their sessions after ours (that she volunteered for), and I was being ignored.
I'm not going to share her name or business in this because I'm trying to work past my bitterness of the whole situation. I'd love to tell everyone who would listen, though, who this photographer is, and why she should be avoided. It can't be too hard to figure out if you feel inclined to do your own digging -- she completed our family photos before Dan deployed. She's no longer in Okinawa, and has stepped down from her OpLove position as of September of 2012. There is nothing OpLove can do, despite their administration trying to contact her multiple times (they have been ignored as well).
Despite only having one photo from our OpLove session, we were featured in Okinawa Marine that summer, just a small picture that accompanied a small article about the unit's homecoming. I have a couple copies of the issue -- I think both are stuffed into a memory box we have going for Evelyn. Sometime early this year, one of Dan's best friends and his wife thought they may've seen our photo in the Marine Corps Gazette as well, but we haven't been able to get our hands on the issue from January or February to confirm.
Now that I have that off my chest (and it feels so good - I still need to work on letting it go, though), I can get to the good stuff. Dan's HOMECOMING.
I ended our initial homecoming post by saying that I had taken the expressway up to the camp, simply so I could be there quickly. I got there a little early, spoke with the FRO while walking into the building, and then met with the photographer.
We were waiting for the returning Marines in the bulk fuel warehouse. It had been raining on and off that day (if I remember correctly), so although it was initially supposed to be outside, they moved it to the bulk fuel warehouse. Inside they had signs, balloons, and against one wall they had food and drinks. On the opposite side of the warehouse, they had a bounce house for the kiddos, and some chairs set up with "Puss in Boots" playing, projected against the wall.
We passed the time by walking around outside, where our photographer snapped some cute photos of Evelyn in her homecoming outfit. She walked along the fence line and in the parking lot. We also spent some time inside -- she walked around, wanting to touch the balloons, and played in the bounce house some.
At one point, we were sitting in the chairs watching "Puss in Boots". I was watching, thankful to be sitting down (I had picked poor shoes, ha!), and Evelyn was either watching or making loops around the group of chairs. My phone rang and when I opened it, it was a strange number. I tentatively answered, trying hard to hear who was on the other line.
It was a man, and it took me a brief second to realize it was Dan. Several months before, I had accidentally left my phone atop of our Honda up in Nago and drove away. I didn't bother putting Dan's number in my new phone because I wouldn't have reason to call it for months.
He was calling to say that they had landed. I can't remember now if they were on the buses headed up our way, or if they had to still go through customs. I think they still had to go through customs. A bit later, the FRO came around and said they had landed, and then my anxiety really went into overdrive.
I can't remember how long we had to wait once they landed, though it was at least an hour to maybe an hour and a half before they made their way from the air base to the camp, via expressway. We were gathered by one of the big garage doors (on the side opposite of the bouncy house and movie), and we waited. I think it must've been raining again, because we waited inside. It feels kind of silly that I can't remember.
They started playing music, and I don't remember any of the songs really, besides Rehab's "Welcome Home". Our photographer, who was standing with us, had mentioned that her brother knew someone who knew someone who had dated someone in the band, or something like that. We got a 5 minute warning from the FRO that they had come in the gate, and I remember standing there, shaking my legs back and forth, anxious to finally see his face.
With music in the background, we heard the motorcycles revving their engines, leading in the big white buses that had taken them away in the dark at 2AM so many months before. I started crying at that point, though the tears had been building for a bit, and I am crying now just remembering. It was such a surreal feeling. They revved and revved their engines, seemingly going so slow, though really they weren't going that slow. Then the first bus came into view.
Everyone started cheering, and I made sure that our sign was visible. I wasn't able to hold it up high because I was also holding Evelyn, and it was a decent-sized sign. They filed in, and I thought they'd be able to just rush over to us. They stood facing away from us in formation, did their thing, and then were released.
This whole time they were walking in from the buses and when they were in formation, I was searching through all of the Marines in desert camies, sure that I'd be able to pick Dan out of the crowd. That was one thing I suppose I wasn't suspecting - I couldn't pick him out in the sea of desert uniforms. I can laugh about it now but it felt a bit distressing at that time. Where was he? How long would it take for him to get to us?
They were dismissed from formation, and immediately Marines started infiltrating both sides of the lines we had made to welcome them in. I searched and searched, and soon there were no Marines in front of me. I turned, and Dan was heading over to me from the general area of the bouncy house. He had a hard time finding me, too.
We hugged. We kissed, just a little bit. Our photographer snapped photos, which seemed awkward at the time (to me). We said thank you to the photographer, and headed out to our vehicle. I thought we could just go home but they had to go unload everyone's bags, which took quite some time.
While they unloaded everyone's bags, Evelyn and I sat and waited in the car. What seemed like for-ev-er later, all the bags were unloaded, and Dan was able to get into the car to go. By the time all was said and done, the sun was setting and it was past dusk when we left the gate. We went down to the next nearest camp, where our post office box is, and checked the mail. Dan was to start classes that night, so we needed to check to see if his textbooks had came in.
After that, we drove back to the air base to try to find the education center. He had class that night, but we weren't able to find the center, so we just went home. He had to work half days for a bit longer before he was able to take block leave but it was just so nice to have him home.
So that's the remainder of our homecoming story, and I'm glad that I have it written down now. As more years pass, I'm sure the details will get a little more fuzzy, although I hope they don't. It was such a wonderful day and I thank God that he came home safe to us. I want to remember every little bit of it, forever. That's not how memory works though, ha.
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