Welcome HOME!!!

We were so lucky that Kyle was released from the Hospital (BAMC) the Day before Christmas!!  We were able to make the Rough (for Kyle) drive to Dallas to be with my Family and Both Trent and Kiley were able to meet us there as well! 

 It turned out to be a wonderful time and Much needed outing for Kyle, even though he was in a lot of pain, he was a trooper!   All 4 of us loaded up my 4runner after Christmas and headed back to San Antonio for another 2 weeks, we seriously looked like a clown car with all of our luggage and gifts from Christmas.  The Army has an onsite hotel where we were able to stay, and Kyle continued to stay Through April while he was continuing Dr’s appointments and Physical Therapy.  We were fortunate to have one of Kyle’s friend, Richard come stay with him for the month of January to help him get to all of his appointments, since I had to come back to work and handle everything else back home.    The month of February was probably the hardest for both of us,  The fact that we couldn’t be together and when we were there was just so much going on and it was such an adjustment not being able to be at home, and Kyle in a wheelchair.   I definitely think this was a huge test to our relationship and it made us appreciate each other so much more and made us stronger individually as well as a couple.   We were able to do a few fun things, like touring the Alamo and checking out the Riverwalk in San Antonio!

Luckily I was able to visit him almost every other weekend until he finally was released to come home in the Middle of March!!  This was the day we had been anticipating for weeks and it was AH-Mazing!!  He actually ended up coming home on the exact same day the rest of his platoon came home from their Deployment in Afghanistan, he just arrived later in the evening than they did.   It was one of the most memorable welcome Home celebrations I think we could have imagined!  Thanks to the work of some incredible friends, the Edmond Police Department went out of their way to give Kyle the welcome home he deserved!  They organized a caravan of cars to the airport to greet him and pick him up!  The men in uniform lined the hallway as Kyle came around the corner to head to Baggage Claim; he was greeted by his Brothers in Blue, about 30 other friends and family members, and multiple news reporters and camera crews.  It was incredibly overwhelming for him but he handled it all like a Pro!  We even made all the local news channels that night- unfortunately the clips are no longer online for me to share.   I know it is something neither of us will ever forget! We had a huge entourage heading back home from the Airport, when we got to the Edmond City limits all the lights and sirens went off, the main roads were blocked so we could be taken through town and right to our house with no stops!  It was truly a special homecoming!   It was also quite funny since it was the same day President Obama was visiting Oklahoma, we had some onlookers taking pictures and we are positive they thought we were the president!