July
27, 2008
Tonight I was blessed with a
fabulous opportunity to present a
quilt to a soldier. I met the
soldier quite accidentally in the
grocery store by chance. He was in
civilian clothes and I thought he
was a civilian. I would learn that
he had served in Iraq and had been
having the same nightmares every
single night for 5 years. I told
him about the Quilts of Valor and
told him that we wanted to change
his dreams and give him new dreams.
We wanted him to dream of all the
Americans who cherish, loved and
appreciated him for his service to
our country.
It
was an emotional moment in the
grocery store and on the verge of
breaking down he had to walk away.
I had told him that he would be
hearing from us within 48 hours.
Dyna
Hall and I called several times and
he did not return the calls.
Tonight I decided to just show up on
his doorstep and get this quilt
wrapped around this soldier.
He
answered the door and was shocked
and speechless to see me. I asked
if he remembered me and if this was
a good time. He said it was and I
didn’t want to just hand him the
quilt and walk away. So I asked if
I could come in and sit for a
minute. He said absolutely and
introduced me to his wife and his
young granddaughter.
I had
a large box with a red, white and
blue ribbon and bow wrapped around
it and I sat the box on the sofa. I
said “this is for you from a lot of
people who want you to know how very
much we thank you, honor you,
cherish you and love you for your
service to our country.” I could
see he was struggling so I said “it
is for you to open when you are
ready.” He couldn’t look at it. He
just turned and walked away for
minute turning his back to us and
holding his head down. I extended
my hand and his wife just held my
hand so tight. We made small talk
with the granddaughter for a few
minutes.
He
came back in a few minutes and as he
began slowly taking the ribbon off
the box in a half cracking voice he
said “you just don’t know what it is
like to go off and leave your family
and go to another country.” I said
“no, I do not know and because of
people like you I will never know.”
He just couldn’t stop saying “thank
you, you just don’t know what this
means. Its beautiful, it is really
beautiful.” I showed them the label
and the names of each person who had
made a block for his quilt. He
hugged me too many times to count
and just held on and couldn’t let go
each time. He said many times
“thank everyone who does this.” His
wife was as shocked as he was and
got the camera.
I
asked his wife if she knew how we
met and told her about our chance
interaction at the grocery store.
She said she had heard about the
quilts but she had never seen one.
I told them we wanted to change his
dreams and the names of the people
on the label are those who made
blocks, sewed them together, did the
quilting and binding for the quilt.
She said his night mares were so
loud he sleeps in another room with
the door shut and he still wakes her
up and she has to go knock on the
door and tell him “its me, its me”
until she can wake him up. And she
has done this for the last 5 years.
I told her we had called him several
times and he never returned our
calls so tonight there was no call
in advance of my simply appearing on
the doorstep. She laughed and said
this is perfect.
I
told them that we knew she and the
rest of the family served every
minute with him and the quilt was
large so he could snuggle them all
under there with him and hopefully
dream about all of us who want to
step up for him.
I
told them of another soldier coming
home soon. Before I knew of his
nightmares in the grocery store I
was recruiting him to deliver and
present quilts. He remembered that
from our conversation. He said “I
want to present that quilt to the
other soldier and the next time you
call I will return your call.”
As he
walked me out to the car he put his
arm around me and just hugged me all
the way to the car. He kept saying
“I just can’t thank you enough.” I
explained “no, this is not about
thanking me, this is a thank you to
you and the best thing you can do is
just let all of the bad stuff go and
let all of the love in and have a
wonderful life. When the dark
moments come just go get your quilt,
flip over the corner, look at that
label and see 24 people who want to
step up just for you. Just let the
love in and enjoy your blessings.”
The
whole thing was a divine
intervention and I was blessed and
honored to be the messenger and
represent all of those of you who
participate with your time, energy,
skill, and love.
Only
time will tell but I hope that
tonight we changed the life of a
soldier and the life of his family
for the better.
Carol
Miller
Operation: Blocks for the Brave
Long
Beach, CA
Blocksforthebrave@yahoo.com
