In the Silence of Our Home

Cars departing with frenzied goodbye waves

Last airport run complete

Leftovers stacked in neat rows in refrigerator

Ashes piled up in wood stove, needing shoveling

Dryer tumbling continuously with sheets

and towels and vagabond socks

Family arrayed in full measure

Meals bountiful and delicious

Laughter in abundance

Game-time boisterous

Bonfires burned bright

Marshmallows aflame like the evening star

Coffee percolating around the clock

Family pictures taken

Citrus picked, eaten, and juiced

Memories shared

Gratitude and joy finds its way under our roof, again

Yet, now

In the Silence of our Home

The gathering has ended

The stillness is deafening

One was missing

A chuckle not heard

A morning hug not given, nor received

His coffee cup, cold and unused

This year’s Christmas card,

glares an empty space

A new story not being told

New memories unmade

Clinging to those from times past

Trying to remember

Trying not to forget

In the Silence of Our Home

Grief sits

Peace sits

I’m ready for one to pack their bags

and begone on this busy travel day,

to lose itself in the holiday traffic,

the crowded malls

But the two odd bedfellows are quite cozy

Sitting side by side

Still in our home

Still in their pajamas

Staring into the fire

They are not going anywhere, anytime soon

Their laughter and their tears

Intermingle

They no longer take us by surprise

They are best of friends

Here to stay

For the rest of our days

So maybe we pull up a chair

stare into the glowing embers

and join them

and Him

In the Silence of Our Home

_____________________________

This first appeared in The Havok Journal on December 8, 2023.

Tab Taber is a Gold-Star Dad–father of SSG George L. Taber V, a Green Beret Medical Sergeant from 7th SFG who died during a violent storm on Mt. Yonah while in the Mountain phase of Ranger School in August 2022. Tab journals to process his grief and to recollect memories of his son. Occasionally he shares his written thoughts with The Havok Journal and on Instagram @gltiv. He retired from the Military (8 years Marines;15 years Army) in 2014 and now resides in NE Florida where he runs a 4th generation wholesale plant nursery. He can be reached at tabtaber7@gmail.com.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.