wish i'd gotten you a pineapple

ted is home! ted the friend, ted the neighbor, ted the soldier, ted the dad. this was his fourth deployment since 9/11, and we hope the last. when he left a few months ago, friends gathered together on a breezey afternoon to say godspeed,

and to celebrate the first birthday of baby lucy,

and to express condolences for the sad passing of sasha the hound.

talk about a mixed bag.

i meant to stop by again the next morning to say good bye once more, but he had left before dawn and was well on his way to afghanistan by then.

while ted was gone the neighborhood experienced several changes: a series of robberies, constuction at the corner grocer, leaves that turned and began to fall.

best of all, lucy learned how to wave hi

and bye bye,

and lucy learned to walk.

this evening, when i saw his truck in his driveway as i pulled into mine, i knew all was well. ted was home.

there is a tradition in new england of putting a pineapple outside the front door as a sign of welcome. when sea captains came home after long tropical voyages, they would put a pineapple outside to signal an invitation for visiting and laughter. christopher columbus started this practice in the 1400's, and through the centuries the custom has been pushed forward by the spaniards in one part of the world, and the whalers off nantucket in another.

i wish i'd gotten you a pineapple, ted! what a nice way to say "welcome home", if only i had thought of it in time.

but then i realized that when ted touched soil, little girl lucy ran up the runway waving and laughing, something he had never seen.

oh, how our hearts are made for melting.

so my friend, sorry i forgot the pineapple but i don't think it bothers you. you received a welcome

you will never forget.

welcome home, neighbor.