A Homecoming Story {The H Family} Central Texas Homecoming Photographer

You all know how much I LOVE homecomings! And I always try to do whatever I can to be there--- no matter when. The Army can be weird sometimes. After a week of changes, we were finally able to nail down the date & time of this ceremony. 1:45 AM. Yep. Told ya I'm dedicated. Still so exciting!

Mia and I stayed in contact during the day, and the homecoming stayed on schedule. So around 9 PM, I cracked open an energy drink and sat down at my computer to wait!


Around 12:30, I headed over to Cooper field to wait some more. When I had spoken Mia about where to meet her- she just said "Look for the Buzz balloon." And I definitely spotted it right away!

 When you enter this field, and most places where homecomings are happening, the entire place is abuzz with excitement, children's laughter, anxious wives & families- and it's a little contagious! The loudspeaker booms with updates of where the soldiers are. Everyone is waiting for the police siren that means they've reached their last checkpoint- the road in front of the field!

 Mia was so excited to have her husband's wedding ring to give back to him. Nine months is a LONG time for him to go without it!

 When that siren is finally heard, its this weird feeling of almost a dream state. Is this really happening? Is this deployment finally over? Is my soldier really on that bus? You don't know whether to laugh, cry, scream...sometimes all you can do is close your eyes and take a deep breath. The next five minutes? The longest of your life.

 Finally those buses pull up to the screams of the crowd and reality finally hits.

 The buses pull away to reveal a group of soldiers. And somewhere in there, was Mia's.

 After a quick prayer is said, the soldiers are released to their families. Look at these huge smiles!

 Welcome home! Thank you so much for your sacrifice.

 Notice: PLEASE do not try to download these photos and post them anywhere online, this is a violation of the copyrights of the photo. These are specifically for my blog. When you choose your images, you will receive both hi-resolution images and low-resolution images (with a smaller watermark) for you to post on facebook, send in e-mail, etc. Thanks!