Paulette's blog: "My Ramblings"

I heard the words welcome home we appreciate y'all over and over last night as I stood on the tarmac next to my fellow USO volunteer Hal. Hal is 70 years old, a Vietnam vet and one of the nicest people you could meet. He repeatedly shook hands and spoke his greeting to the returning soldiers. Most of the soldiers however were on a mission to find the restroom (long flight) and were understandably a bit hurried in passing us. All but one that is. I saw a young tall soldier come over to shake Hals hand. He was stopped in front of himl. Hal had his hands clasped around the soldier's and he was saying something that I couldn't hear. The young man, after such a long flight, stood looking down at Hal with a look of kindness and sincerity in his eyes. I just stood off to the side and watched..and tears came to my eyes. Only a few minutes before the flight landed Hal was telling me about his ordeal the day before. 10 MRI's, several bone scans and numerous different types of blood work..you see he has pancreatic cancer..so as I stood watching him speak in a hushed tone to this soldier, I couldn't help but wonder what he was saying or what this soldier was thinking as he listened.

   My mind went back to the last episode of Oprah. I'm not an Oprah groupie, but something she said on that last show has stuck with me. She spoke of validation..how we all want to be validated.  We want to know that we matter to someone. We want to love and be loved. And we want to know that we make a difference. We want to be heard. So as I'm watching  these two men this comes to my mind. Is that what Hal's doing? Giving this young man the validation that he never got when he returned from Vietnam? Thanking him for a job well done..words he never got to hear. Or does he simply want to be heard? Does he need to tell someone that they're appreciated? I wonder what this soldier would say back to him if he knew about the cancer? All these thoughts flood my mind. When they're done talking Hal places his hand on the soldiers shoulder and say's welcome home..we appreciate you. And the soldier smiles and goes into the building. I look over at Hal and say..welcome home Hal...I appreciate you...