In honor of Veteran's Day, I'm going to skip through acouple sessions I need to blog and do Thomas' homecoming! Rachel (his lovely fiance) contacted me this summer about photographing his homecoming in August. I had never done one or been to one so I was super excited! I don't have any family members that are military (I know this is strange living in a military town) so I've never been able to experience a homecoming. I learned many things and am grateful to have had the experience. I'll take you through one in case, like me, you've never been able to attend.
The buses were late. Not by much, just enough to prolong the anticipation. The estimated arrival time had changed 3 different times, resulting in not all Thomas' family being able to stay to welcome him home. He had a good sized group left though and they welcomed me into the "session" whole heartedly. I walked around taking in the patriotic decor and signs made by love ones. There was a DJ, soldiers on horses, kids running all over the place in their camo outfits, and no one was sad. We got word the buses were on their way, saw them shortly after, saw many sets of boots pouring out of the door and lining up behind them, and finally were all able to yell, "Move that bus!". Although you couldn't really pick out the soldiers individually, the tears and shouts were a huge sign of relief from families that had waiting so long to have them home. A short ceremony later, and they literally "released" them. Rachel tore out of the stands and I followed, having no idea who I was looking for, but he found us first. I barley got a shot in before Thomas whisked her away. Even I had tears and I'm not a crier. There were lots of hugs, kisses, smiles, tears, and cell phone calls everywhere. I even got in a hug with him. After everything settled down, we got a few family shots and he had to go take care of "getting home" business. One of my favorite shots is Rachel & Thomas leaving through the crowd. Together. See if you can find them :).
If you haven't had the opportunity to attend a homecoming, go. Everyone should experience it once. You may not have someone coming home but if you look behind the soldiers and their families, you'll see a group in the back that for one reason or another wasn't able to have someone there to greet them. A thank you and a hug might go a long way.
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