![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/american-flag1.jpg?w=300\" "\\"american-flag\\"")
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By Suzanne\u00a0Sparrow Watson<\/p>\n
I left you in Part One with military spouses and prostitutes \u2013 quite the juxtaposition.\u00a0 So let me continue \u2026<\/p>\n
One of the most moving and emotional parts of the Coming Home <\/em>series is when the service member walks down the tarmac.\u00a0 Spouses dissolve into tears and as they bury their heads on each other\u2019s shoulders you can see their relief.\u00a0 Relief that the soldier is home safely and relief that, at least for the foreseeable future, they will be a united family unit again.<\/p>\n But the real story of the hardships of military life lie with the children.\u00a0 During the set up for the surprise homecoming,\u00a0 Matt Rogers \u00a0spends time talking with the children in the family.\u00a0 These interviews offer a very sobering view of the sacrifices these kids make.\u00a0 Most of them are mature beyond their years.\u00a0 They have to be.<\/p>\n They see other children on their base receive news that a parent has died or been severely injured.\u00a0 With one parent gone these children learn to be more self-reliant, older siblings step up to take care of younger ones, and at important occasions in their life they are forced to acknowledge the reality that their mother or father will not be in attendance.<\/p>\n Birthdays and graduations are the events mentioned most often, but if one listens carefully to what the children confide to Matt you can tell that their parent is missed most in the smaller moments.\u00a0 A son wants to share with his dad that he made the basketball team, a daughter is starting school and her mom is not there.\u00a0 Parents are missed when kids are tucked into bed at night or when they come home from school with hurt feelings and need some comforting.<\/p>\n So when the Coming Home <\/em>surprise unfolds and the children learn that the clown at the circus is their dad or the person in the ump outfit at the ballgame is their mom, it is one of the best moments on TV.\u00a0 Shock and disbelief are their first reactions, but then as they are wrapped in their parent\u2019s arms something else happens.\u00a0 Most of these children begin to cry.\u00a0 Not normal \u201chappy tears\u201d.\u00a0 They shut their eyes and sob so hard that they can\u2019t catch their breath.\u00a0 And in that instant you see all that they\u2019ve been bravely holding in for so long:\u00a0 the worry, the absence, all the missed small moments.\u00a0 We know it\u2019s coming every episode, and yet we cry every time.<\/p>\n Given how tremendous this program is, we were taken aback by the Lifetime Channel\u2019s decision to replace it with a show about prostitution. \u00a0Believe me, I have nothing against sex and I do realize the communal bar has been set pretty low for what passes for entertainment these days.\u00a0 But to suspend a show that pays tribute to the unacknowledged heroes among us with a show about a madam \u2026.that is substrata stuff.<\/p>\n Apparently there are a lot of other people who feel as we do and have barraged Lifetime with emails calling them everything from pond scum to unpatriotic. \u00a0Surprisingly, the \u201csuits\u201d at Lifetime listened.\u00a0 Coming Home <\/em>will be returning to their line-up on May 30, the real Memorial Day.\u00a0 If you want an hour of TV that will make you humble, proud and appreciative of your<\/em> small moments, I encourage you to tune in.\u00a0 I guarantee you won\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne\u00a0Sparrow Watson I left you in Part One with military spouses and prostitutes \u2013 quite the juxtaposition.\u00a0 So let me continue \u2026 One of the most moving and emotional parts of the Coming Home series is when the service … read more