I'm not the only one who waited for him

Never before has karma shined its light on me like it has the past two days. I must have done something historically commendable, because I have never been as content as I have been holding hands with Michael while meeting his family. It has been fabulous. Firstly, Mike and I flew into JFK yesterday without anyone but his Mother knowing that we would be home for the holidays. He hadn't been home in two years, so of course I didn't know what to expect. He was having a reunion and would be introducing me to his family.

"Should I hang back when he surprises everyone? What do I do if they start crying? Will they even notice me? Am I intruding on this reunion? Should I even be here?! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

Mike's Mom picked us up at the airport and I watched at a distance as he ran around the van and embraced her. I stood on the side with the bags and let them have their moment, which was the best thing I could have done. What I saw melted my heart, because even though I am not a Mother, I know what it is like being away from someone you love for a long, long time. And right afterward, she came running to me and wrapped her arms around me. "You are so pretty!" she said. I knew right then that all of my insecurities were unnecessarily considered, and you have no idea how happy that made me.

When we went home, we hid in the van like ninjas while his Mom went inside, ninja'd our way out of the van to the fence, then sneaked along the fence to the front door with so much stealth we impressed ourselves. When he opened the door, I immediately heard screaming. His sisters darted across the room and cried as he held onto them. While pinned between the reunited siblings and the door, my mind wandered to a few years ago when my brother came home from Baghdad. Alaska is no war zone, but to have a brother gone for so long with such a dangerous job, it's tough to hold in the tears when he's home and safe. I never really took all of these similarities into consideration when I was worrying myself about meeting his family, but now that I have, my eyes have been opened. I'm going to make sure that Mike sees home more often than he has, because his family deserves to see his face more than every two years. They are wonderful people.