A Moment of Dread for a Military Wife

Someone was knocking at the door, at midnight this is what every military wife dreads and prays will never happen to her. As Rachel Canyon moved towards the door the knock sounded again, she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart and opened the door before the knock came again and woke the children. Her husband SSG Landon Canyon had been in the field the last few days and wasn't expected to return for two more days, so she knew that the man she opened the door to would have news about her husband. She saw standing on their porch her husband's 1SG Alvin Reenoip. As Rachel started to fall to the floor 1SG Reenoip caught her.

As 1SG Reenoip led her to the couch he tried to get through to Rachel in her cries of anguish. Finally she
quieted, and he was able to tell her "its ok Mrs. Canyon, your husband SSG Canyon is alive, he is injured and being taken to the hospital but he is alive." As the words sank in Rachel felt a wave of relief wash over her that Landon was alive, then tears of relief started to pour down her face. 1SG Reenoip went on to explain that her husband had not been able to call her himself to let her know what was going on and asked that 1SG Reenoip get news of his injury immediately. Rachel took a deep breath and asked "what happened to Landon, how bad is he injured?" "He has a broken leg and a few broken ribs," stated 1SG Reenoip. "If you would like to wake your kids and get them ready, I can drive you to the hospital, so you don't have to worry about the drive."

Rachel rushed to wake the children, and had them ready to go within minutes. All the way to the hospital Rachel thanked God that her husband was alive, and knew that no matter what, she was going to be thankful from tonight on for every moment she and the children had with Landon. She knew that no matter what after tonight, every time her husband was in the field or gone, she would be dreading that knock on the door again. However she knew that she would move on and still live her life as she had done every day since they had married and started their life together in the military.

As soon as 1SG Reenoip parked the car at the hospital she rushed in with her children to the nurses' station and asked what room her husband was in, they were able to inform her what room he was in and direct her in the right direction. The moment she walked into the room and saw her husband lying on the hospital bed, she burst into tears and rushed to his side. He held out his arms to gingerly pull her into a light embrace to hold her as she released all her worries through her tears. Landon murmured apologies for scaring her in the middle of the night with an injury, which she immediately told him was nothing to worry about right now and how thankful she was that he was alive. Landon released Rachel to hold out his arms to gently hug his two children, Jeffery and Arianna. They were then led to the small couch in his room to lie down while their parents talked.

1SG Reenoip came to the room to make sure they were all going to be alright for the night or if they needed anything before he headed home to his own family. Landon turns to him and says "Thank You Sir for getting the news to my wife of my injuries, I very much appreciate it." With the thanks, 1SG Alvin Reenoip left the family to themselves.

Many weeks later when Landon was healed and back to work, Rachel was still very thankful that her husband had been spared that night and that they still had a whole lifetime to store up memories and cherish their time together. She still prayed every night that she would never have to hear another knock on her door late at night but she no longer lived in fear of it, she just took life with her family one day at a time!