Day 6

Day 6...again..another day closer. :) Todays story comes from Meredeth McDonald from Savannah, Ga (Illinois actually but...Savannah for now..:) ) This is a story that she was told about by her parents when she was younger and shes sharing it with us today, i love it! You guys all know about our involvement with Operation: Love reunited and i just love stories that show support and love to our soldiers...so this is a good one. :) Mer was but a twinkle in her parents eye when this event happened but I think its really cool that they have told her about it and shes letting us in on it. Enjoy!

day 6
by Meredeth McDonald

Well, one Christmas around 1983 or so, my dad was in bed with a bad back and couldn't get out to do anything. My aunt called my parents to say my cousin, her son Tom, was in Rockford, IL (about 30 miles away) and couldn't get home to Peru, IL. He was going to head back to his house in Madison, WI, to spend the holiday alone. My mom told my Aunt to have Tom call her and she'd drive up to Rockford to pick him up, and he'd spend Christmas w/ our family. Uncle Mel, his dad, could later come and get him from our house when the roads cleared. My grandma was at my other aunt and uncle's houss (my aunt being her daughter, my dad's sister). My mom stopped by my aunt and uncle's house to see if my uncle John would go w/ her. They drove up to the bus depot, very, very slowly, as the snow had accumulated and the roads were very dangerous. When my mom entered the bus depot to get Tom, a young soldier asked her which direction she was going. She said "south," and he asked for a ride. He was trying to get to Sterling, IL and the buses had quit due to the snowstorm. My mom agreed, and he proceeded to tell her about his young wife and their baby whom he still hadn't met. He had been overseas, serving in Desert Storm, for a tour of duty. The four of them went out and got into the Blazer, and drove back to Oregon, IL, the town in which I grew up and from which they had come to go to Rockford. Upon arriving, they all entered my house, and my mom gave the soldier some dinner to eat. My uncle John, a circuit court judge at the time and a big name in the county, called the Sheriff's dept. to tell him that they had a young soldier that needed to get to Sterling. The Ogle County Sheriff picked him up, drove him to the Lee County line, where the Lee County Sheriff took him to the Whiteside County line, and the Whiteside County sheriff to Sterling, and home. Our cousin Tom spent Christmas Eve and Day with my family, and his dad picked him up the next day. Two people were able to spend Christmas with people that cared and loved them, in spite of adversity and seemingly impossible circumstances; a true Christmas story, indeed.