When we were here before, only bad thoughts had been running through my head; now only happy thoughts are running through my head. It has been nine months since we have been to this airport but it feels like three years since I have seen the Atlanta Airport.

I jump out of the car quickly only to be startled by the low rumbling of a plane landing about half a mile away. I head for the trunk of the car and help my dog Maggie out. After we are all out of the car my mom pulled slowly away from the sidewalk to go park the car. Johanna, David and I walk over to the fence. As we watch some planes land and take off I think to myself that my dad could be on one of those planes, that he is finally coming home. When my mom returns from parking the car we are still early so we decide to wait outside for a while.

“Can you believe all that we have done to get ready for this” my mom declares, “all the cleaning and the decorating in the yard.”

“Don’t forget the shots” I reminded.

“I hate shots” David whines “They hurt to much.”

After a few minutes of continues talking my mom exclaimed “Lets go to the gate so we are there when he gets of the plane.” As we walk though the hallways me and my mom continue our conversation then we go off topic when Johanna points out that it seems that in every room there are people in uniform wether they are filling out papers or listening to people talk they all seemed like they didn’t want to be there I wondered if my dad had gone to anything like this why he was in Iraq and if he was as miserable as they appeared to be.

When we reached the large room outside of where we pick him up we made ourselves comfortable on a few benches up against the wall. After a while Johanna got up and positioned herself against the window looking in to the room were he would unload from the plane. I walked over to a single chair on the opposite end of the room and pulled out my book. I was not reading for very long because suddenly Johanna yelled “There he is I see him, I see him, he’s home, he’s finally home.”

“Dad’s home, Dad’s Home, Dad’s Home” David yells with excitement as he runs in random directions around the waiting area causing everyone to go silent and stare. My mom quickly tells him to quiet down and we all go over and join Johanna and wait for my dad to come through the door.

He has not noticed us yet. Finally David starts banging on the window and that is when he finally sees us in the window he is smiling seeming so happy to be home.

“Mom you’re crying” David

“Oh David I’m just so happy to see him” my mom says back.
We watch him come closer to us the happiness was building up inside me waiting to be released. When finally the door swung open and there he was. We all run up to him, David screaming in happiness, and give him a big hug. After a few minutes my dad picks up his bags and we all start walking to the car. I think to myself that this long time of waiting is over that we will hopefully never have to go through this again.