Life Story #2
Left off – Airport reunion from Story #1
It was a wonderful reunion for them all, and everyone was in a joyful mood, apart from Kiara. She screamed so everyone could hear and clung to her mother with all her might when he reached for her. All he really wanted to do was hold his baby girl that he had not seen since almost birth. The thought of her not knowing who he was or how he felt about her was a tough pill to swallow. On the other hand, his son, Tristan, rushed into his arms almost knocking him to the ground! The happy little family, apart from Kiara, went to grandma and grandpas to spend a little time with the family and enjoy their family reunion.
The reunion unfortunately did not last as long as they would have hoped for. The military popped its head up in the mix and was sending them off to Michigan this time around. Kiara’s mom was not thrilled to leave her family as they had grown accustomed to having them around to help with the kids and just to be there for her. Claire was a young bride, so the beginning of their life was hard with getting married and moving right away to Georgia where her first child was born. This was like Louisiana where she had not known anyone and had so many lonely nights where she sat and cried thinking about her family back home and missing them every day. She would venture out when the children were fast asleep to a nearby pay phone to call her parents collect just to hear their voices. She had now been through this type of ordeal twice in her life with living in Georgia, then the on to Louisiana but it did not make this one any easier and the thought of being lonely once again and having to try and meet all new people was terrifying thought for Claire.
Kiara, at her young age, was really not happy about this upcoming move. She had grown to rely on waking up each morning and having grandma and grandpa sitting at the kitchen table ready to spoil her rotten. The thought of getting into a car with this strange man and driving across the country was not something she was going to do without a fight. In these days, car seats were not the norm so they did not have the luxury of having something to strap her into. The act of getting all packed up and everyone in the car was difficult in itself but with a screaming Kiara throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the driveway made it that much more difficult. Through all this chaos Kiara had no idea the affect she was having on her father. His heart was broken imaging knowing that she felt like it was the worst thing in the world to go away with her own father. He did everything he could to get her attention, even bribing her with candy and toys, but to no avail. All she wanted was her mom and not this strange man invading their lives. He was trying to be patient and hope that one of these days she would see the love in his eyes for his little girl and jump into his arms and never leave.
It was quite the drive, but they made it to Michigan – Stay tuned for Michigan adventures in Story
