Joyful Transformation

I haven’t seen my younger brother in a year and a half now. I was trying to remember if I had talked to him…I don’t think so. We e-mail frequently, but somehow it is not the same. I am going to Atlanta to pick him up at the airport this afternoon. Bruce went in the Air Force 24 years ago. Other than a 4 year stay at Homestead Florida, he has been stationed in Europe all of those years. I have missed having him around.

Around 18 years ago he surprised me and my parents by telling us he was getting married. It was his first tour of duty in Italy and he had met an Italian girl at church. He and Carla married and have two wonderful children (well they are teenagers now, does that count as children?). There have been some interesting times in their marriage with the communication barrier. Carla learned English in school and Bruce was learning Italian hands on. One day when they had been married less than a year Bruce came home from work and Carla told him “I want an affair”. Being young and confused he tried to talk to her and find out what the real problem was. When he questioned her intent he found out that she really wanted a job, she had just mistranslated the word…. Ah communication!

Other than their one stay in Homestead when they were first married, they have lived within driving distance of her parents. The longest distance from Italy would have been when they lived in Germany. Around 6 years ago they bought a house in the same town as her parents when Bruce was moved back to Aviano Air Force Base. But now for Bruce to earn his final promotion and to stay in long enough to finish his degree he must take a State side assignment. So at the end of this visit Bruce will be heading to Arizona. Sadly, Carla and the children are going back to Italy. Nobody is mad, there are no hidden issues; she just does not want to leave her home and her parents.

What will happen when he retires in four years? I don’t know. I know that he will be lonely here by himself. I hope that they will miss him. I pray that things will work out to where their marriage is saved and their home is reunited. The kids are 16 and 15 and have been in Italian schools. I understand wanting continuity for them.

So this visit is bittersweet. I am so happy to have my brother home for a while and back in the States, but I know that this will be a truly trying time for him. I know too that there is a possibility that I may not see or here from my sister in law and my niece and nephew for a very long time. Life is seldom easy, relationships rarely occur without heartache. How beautiful heaven will be!