I asked our writer to write about this image….  and this was her response…

Daddy’ Girl

There’s an image that comes to him, each time he closes his eyes,

Of his girl across the ocean, waiting for him in the life he left behind.

She doesn’t realize in his heart he carries her everywhere he must go,

Only that he’s not with her, Daddy had to leave, that’s the only thing she knows.

In her innocence, she doesn’t realize the risks he takes are a choice he made,

Sacrifices of a father’s love which he’s gladly paid.

She doesn’t understand that those same risks he takes with his company and while alone,

Are his way of providing her a life of freedom and safety, of keeping things right back home.

She will never know how it hurts him each day he has to miss,

Seeing her smile, hearing her laughter, not being there to give her a goodnight kiss.

So it goes, as he settles in for the night that he thinks of her and prays,

For God to watch over his girl, the angels be with her, while he must be away.

For God to give him the strength he needs and see him safely through another day,

For deployment to soon end, so Daddy can go home to stay.

– Written by Crystal on behalf of Heart of Gold