This past weekend, I woke up at 3 AM to drive from Manchester to Portsmouth NH. These wee hours are my favorite times to drive, when nothing’s open and the roads are quiet and misty. Off exit 3, I made a few U turns trying to find the correct entrance to Pease International Airport - the last time I came through here, I was a teen, my brother had been stationed at Pease Air Force base, and Live Aid was being broadcast on a Boston radio station.

The reasons for this particular trip were the two incoming flights of soldiers stopping in at Customs before returning home after their overseas training. In both cases, they were visiting home for a week before shipping out officially. As the men and women walked off the plane and down in to a small lounge filled with stuffed animals, snacks, and coffee, they were greeted with thunderous applause by the Pease Greeters, a growing group of veterans and families who fill the tiny airport for every military flight that passes through. There were a few dogs - healthy, friendly domestics - a few babies, and a few dazed toddlers. A later flight was greeted by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts with flags and banners. The troops shook a hundred hands, had their shoulders patted and squeezed by an extension of motherhood and fatherhood, and looked down on those dazed toddlers during their routine leg stretch between flights. A song or two later, a brief speech, and they were off to points West.

Claire Dutton received a few moments to present some of the donated Remembered Voices cards to the first flight in, a group of 86 Marines. The remaining cards were distributed to the other flights landing during Memorial Day weekend. We hope that these Tell Your Story cards help their families connect over the distance and duration of deployment.

I failed to reach all of the 1 1/2 octaves in the Star-Spangled Banner, as did many of the singers around me, and ended up practicing it on the drive home. Maybe next time I can give it the gusto it deserves.