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.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

A House of Their Own

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This is a really sweet story out of Belton, Texas.   University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students spent a week recently building playhouses for the children of eleven military families in an event that has become known as Cru Playhouses (the school’s team name is Crusaders).  Mike McCarthy, director of Campus Activities, said Cru Playhouses is “a way for us to teach  our students how to honor military service.” Most of the families receiving a playhouse have one parent currently deployed.
The playhouses were built Monday through Thursday, and Friday the children came to campus to help paint and decorate their playhouses. McCarthy says that when the children are involved in the decorating process  they begin to understand the playhouse is really theirs.
                    
Dawnella and Rob Carter have four young daughters ranging in age from four to nine. “We’ve been here for two years, but right after we moved here my husband was deployed,” Dawnella said. “The girls have big plans for their playhouse. They plan on landscaping around it, and they want to attract butterflies to it.They have a spot all picked out in the yard for it, so they’re really excited.”

“A lot of our students have no idea what a real military family is like,” McCarthy said. “Cru Playhouses gives us a chance to be in contact with military families and see who they really are and what type of person devotes their life to military service.” 
Posted by About AART at 7:04 AM

1 comment:

  1. KathleenOctober 7, 2010 at 6:41 PM

    I love to hear about the creative ways that people have to serve and help Military families. These families sacrifice so much for the rest of us. Thank you for posting!

    ReplyDelete

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