It’s funny how life can change in a blink of an eye
One second you were there the next you were gone

You promised to come back
But you yourself didn’t truly believe it
But both you and Mom were crying
But I was beginning to see that this was one of those

Out of my control things
One of those things that neither one of us could prevent
One of those things that were alien to me
One of those things that existed only in the fundamentally bland world of adults

I belonged to a world of talking animals and magic

There was always an adventure waiting around every corner
There were dragons to slay
Balls to attend
Castles to make

I had no time for things that existed only behind plasma screens
That no I couldn’t throw balls at
And no weren’t for coloring on
That at least to me served no purpose after Disney Junior went off at noon

But my brother seemed to think otherwise
He’d come home from school and insert a disc into the tv
Once I had asked him what it said
What made it so much more fun than playing hide and go seek with me?

He had replied that it was Call Of Duty
And that it was his favorite game
And that I always hid in the laundry room
And that I should mind my own business

I came to realize that it was a game of war with guns and bombs and death
The only guns I knew of where the Nerf variety
Bombs were the fizzy things in the tub
And death was something that didn’t happen until you were really really really old

But that was before
Before you stepped onto that plane
Before I saw the look of terror in Mom’s eyes
Before you were shipped off to Afghanistan

I realized then that I had to leave my world behind
Because I was needed in this one
Because you would be gone for awhile
Because while you’d protect the front lines I’d protect the home front