Whew. This one was a doozy. I’ve been talking to Mona for what seemed like months about her husband’s homecoming and when the time came, the stars aligned and everything worked out perfectly. The timing of his homecoming ceremony, Sarah and my availability, the weather, just everything was ideal!
And then Sarah and I started driving. We left about 45 minutes early so that we could set up before the ceremony started and we were laughing and joking and having a good time. We pull up to the gate to enter Fort Riley and the military patrolman says that we can’t use this gate after hours 🙁 So he gave us directions on where we could go. At this point, we still have plenty of time. I call Mona and let her know what’s going on and she apologizes profusely for the mix up. Sarah and I arrive at the other entrance only to find that we need government issued IDs or else we can’t get in. Unfortunately, Sarah lost her driver’s license earlier that week and so we had to turn around and leave. Now, it’s homecoming ceremony time. So I whip the car around and drop Sarah off at the Junction City Walmart (which probably wasn’t the best idea, but there was no was I was going to miss the entire ceremony) and sped back to Fort Riley.
After getting through the entrance, I had no idea where to go. I drove around aimlessly for about 20 minutes (after 1) asking the military patrolman for directions and 2) asking a military police officer for directions to no avail), I saw a line of cars leaving one building and I knew that is where I needed to be!
So after reading all of that, you’re probably thinking that I missed everything and I am just a bitter grumpy old man! But no! Fortunately for me, the Dexters (Mona, Chris, Tyler, Jake & Garrett) were still there and I was able to grab some candids as well as some posed shots of them before they took off! It was awesome seeing the whole family reunited! You might recognize the Dexters from previous sessions here and here and so I really wanted to be there for them for this momentous occasion!
Welcome home Chris! And thank you for doing all that you do for our country and our freedom!