When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Dancing Through Deployment

I’ve written before about the program Our Military Kids (a link appears lower right on this page), but here is a heartening video about one family it is helping.  Six-year-old Brooklynn Hammond’s father is part of a reserve unit deployed for a year to the Middle East.  She lives in Eastern Idaho, away from many of the support services available to other military families.  Her mother applied for a grant to pay for ballet lessons for Brooklynn, and she was recently filmed by a local television station as her class prepared for their holiday production of "The Nutcracker.”  The video is so precious, it will warm your heart.
Our Military Kids, founded in 2004, provides many services to children of National Guard and Military Reserves, including scholarships for sports, arts and tutoring to help children through the deployment. Brooklynn’s father, Sergeant Blake Hammond, is on his first tour to the Middle East with the 116th cavalry brigade combat team.  He will be gone a year.  Brooklynn has a younger brother, still a toddler.  With the support of other groups. like United Through Reading, which I profiled yesterday,  the Hammond family can stay strong and unified through this difficult time.  

Happy Holidays, Brooklynn!  We're proud of you, your mom and brother, and your dad.
Stock photo of little ballerinas
  
Posted by About AART at 7:28 AM

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