Nine-year-old Griselda Lemus asks her mother, Sgt. Papsy Lemus, about the 13 months she spent at war serving in Baghdad, Iraq, and the difficulty of leaving her family in the United States.
Originally aired on May 29, 2009, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Transcript
Griselda Lemus (GL) and Papsy Lemus (PL)
GL: How did you feel when you left?
PL: Um, worried. I didn’t know if I was ever going to see you again. It was hard because, when you guys got sick, I wasn’t able to come home, tuck you in at night and sing you your lullabies or read you a story like we used to.
GL: Did you see any kids there?
PL: Yes. It was kind of overwhelming because all the little kids in the town, ran into the street and start waving at us. It reminded me of you guys.
GL: Did you shoot anyone or kill anyone while you were there in the war?
PL: No, I never shot my rifle while I was in Iraq. How did you feel while I was away?
GL: I felt really sad and dad, he had to try and be the mom and the dad mostly, but he couldn’t all the time. So he always had to have me be the mom a lot.
PL: Is there a time when you were afraid?
GL: Yeah, I was afraid, I was afraid mostly on your birthdays, because I thought that what if you died on your own birthday, and I would never see you again. It was just hard.
PL: Was it?
GL: Yah. How did you feel when you got home?
PL: It didn’t sink in that I was actually home, you know. Am I dreaming, is it happening? And all I can think is, are they going to remember me and love me, or are they going to hold it against me for leaving them? And then, you guys just ran up to me and said, ’I love you mom and welcome home. I missed you.’ I started crying and that’s when it got me.