The Fitzgibbon Family: Sacrifice and Father's Day!

Well it's Sean's 4th father's day and his 3rd one deployed I'm not sure last year's even counts since we both had the stomach bug but will count it anyway. Today I decided to finally check out the lake since everyone would be busy with family I thought it would be the perfect thing to do. We started off the morning with a phone call from Daddy and production of a video for him. After getting a later than I wanted start we made our way to the beach. We drove by one of Aidan's friends' houses and he asked where they were today. I told him they would be spending time with their Daddy. He responded with "cause it's father's day?" I say yes and he said "but why can't we hang out with our Daddy" I wanted to cry and pull that car over to give him the biggest hug ever but instead I turned it into a lesson and stayed strong. I took a deep breath and told him Daddy had to be far away to help people and it was a sacrifice that we had to make. Of course he then asked what sacrifice meant and I did my best to explain it at a 3 year old level. He dropped the subject and seemed a little sad but let me know when "Daddy comes home to us" (a phrase he says a lot) we will throw a birthday party for him with a big cake and Aidan will help him blow out the candle because he's a big boy. This thought seemed to make him happy and we moved on with our day. I was a little sad that I had to teach my son about sacrifice at such a young age but also realized that we aren't the only ones without Daddy home today and that we were going to make the most of this day and every other day. We continued to drive on and after a turn a little too early we found our way to the Thurmond Damn and Visitor's Center. We got out to get some directions and Aidan was so excited to explore so we did a bit of exploring then made our way to Pointes West Army Recreation Site. It was dead and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was pretty small but nice they even lend you lounge chairs and umbrellas for free. The kids got right to digging and having fun and I actually got to just RELAX while I watched them play. Aidan asked to go down to the water so we went to check it out. He wasn't a big fan of the lake water at first. I had to threaten to take away his shovel (cruel I know but it worked). He went in and had fun but WOULDN'T swim just walk around and splash. We ended up playing catch with a football for a long time and it was quite enjoyable. Aidan was throwing the ball right to me every time and catching it most of the time. It was fun to be able to play a real game of catch with the little man. Riley had fun in the water as usual and of course LOVED walking around with the shovel like her big brother. After about 4 hours we thought it was best to head home for the day. Aidan was definitely tired and kept telling Riley it was ok if she slept in the car she could just hold his hand and close his eyes. I think he was really hoping she would do that so he could nap to0. We got just a few miles from the house and he said "oh no we didn't sleep we're home" The rest of the day we spent relaxing and enjoying our family.

Daddy we miss you and can't wait for you to come home. Thanks for all you do for this great nation and we support you 100% Stay safe and know that we couldn't be more proud of you and that you are the best Daddy for this family. You are also expected to go to the lake with us when you come home. Aidan let me know he wanted to go back with Daddy.