My favorite family memory was when I came back from Iraq after serving over a year away from my family. My wife and I decided not to tell our two children as there was a possibility I would not be able to make it as planned and we did not want to disappoint them. As it turns out, I arrived on schedule and it was a complete shock and surprise to them. Just to hold them in my arms again was beyond anything I could possibly imagine, and at that time there was no other place in this world I wanted to be but home.
