THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 17, 1995 TAG: 9511170326
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: HOLLY & BOBBY
CHAPTER 6: HOMECOMING
They say a marriage can survive anything if it survives a six-month
deployment. Holly and Bobby White know. For six months, they opened up
their home, their letters and their thoughts as the carrier Theodore
Roosevelt sailed an ocean away.
SOURCE: BY KERRY DEROCHI, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
At 11:30 a.m., Holly White sat on a counter in the air terminal at the Norfolk Naval Air Station, her two boys beside her.
She fingered her gold necklace, the one with half of a heart on it. She had given the other half to her husband, Bobby, before he left on a six-month deployment. Side by side, the heart read ``together.''
Soon, she thought, soon.
Half a year had come down to a few, anxious minutes in a passenger lounge at an airport.
Bobby walked into the room and headed straight for his sons. Robby ran into his arms. Cody, unsure of where to go, hung back.
``Here you go, Daddy,'' he said finally, as he saw Bobby kneeling in front of him.
They stood this way for a few minutes, Bobby clutching his sons and Holly stroking his hair, crying.
Homecoming.
Somehow it makes everything seem worthwhile. You forget the aching, the loneliness and the anger of the past six months. You wave tiny red, white and blue flags and thank the Navy for bringing your sailor home.
No matter how many times you swear you'll never go through a deployment again, once it's homecoming, it doesn't seem so bad.
``I really think once we're away from the ship, when I look back I'm going to think this was one of the happiest times of our lives,'' Holly said.
The Whites collected Bobby's sea bags and walked to the car. Robby offered to show his dad which one it was.
They returned home to their apartment at the Norfolk Naval Air Station.
``We Love You Daddy,'' was hung in bright pink letters on the front door.
A paper cutout of a Navy man was taped to the pantry door, put there by Holly to remind the boys of Dad. It wasn't needed any more.
Bobby was home. He grabbed Holly's hand.
``This cruise has made us stronger,'' Bobby would say later. ``We have a lot of respect for each other. The good thing about being at sea is you realize how important the small things are.''
Like channel surfing with the remote control. Plenty of ice in the freezer.
The feel of your son curled up beside you.
That night, Bobby and the boys watched television on the floor in the living room. By 8:30, all three were asleep.
Holly wandered through the house, alone. A bottle of champagne sat unopened in the refrigerator. She picked up the telephone. There didn't seem to be anything else to do.
She got into bed and went to sleep. Finally, she thought, it was over.
Two days later, she would learn that it wasn't. Not yet.
Not for a while.
At 5:30 a.m., Robby burst through the door of the bedroom, crying.
He ran to the edge of the bed and peered over the side. He needed to see his dad.
It would become a routine. Every night, Robby woke before dawn and searched through the dark for his father.
``I think he thought Bobby was leaving again, that's all I could figure out,'' Holly said. ``He thought we were fixing to do this all over again.''
One Sunday morning, Robby couldn't find his father and ran through the house, panicked.
Holly tried to explain. Holding him tightly to her, she told him his father had duty and was at work on the ship. He wouldn't be back until the next morning.
Robby started screaming.
I want my Daddy
I want my Daddy.
Holly hadn't heard those words since Bobby first left, six months before.
She thought the boys were beyond that, now.
``I thought everything would just snap back together once Bobby got home,'' Holly said.
But six months isn't erased in a single morning. A 4-year-old's trust can't be restored in a simple scene in an airport terminal.
Holly and Bobby talked to the boys, trying to make them understand that dad was home for good. Bobby told them of the assignment he was taking in Washington. They would buy a new house. He wouldn't have to go back to sea.
In October, Bobby went on the Roosevelt for a three-day cruise to offload some ammunition.
The night before he left, Bobby explained to the boys, he'd be home the following Sunday. He showed them the day on the calendar.
The boys nodded solemnly, as if this time, they understood. That Sunday, they stood with Holly on the pier and watched their father come home.
There would be no more tears.
``They're still clingy now than before, but it's better,'' said Holly.
Every morning, before 6, Robby wakes at the sound of his father taking a shower. He walks downstairs in his pajamas to eat breakfast with Bobby before he leaves for work.
They sit in a row on the living room couch, eating Raisin Bran and watching the early morning news. Robby, nestled between Holly and Bobby, insists on eating out of Dad's bowl.
One day last week, Robby turned to his father as they sat, quietly eating.
``I don't want you to go to work,'' he said.
``I have to, it's my job,'' Bobby replied.
``You won't go out on the boat, will you?'' Robby asked.
``No, I won't do that again, I promise,'' Bobby said.
Robby turned back to the TV.
``Well, OK then,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
GARY C. KNAPP
Robby, Cody and Holly did not have the typical homecoming ushering
in the Roosevelt. They met Bobby at the Navy Military Airlift
Command terminal. Holly waited patiently while each boy got his hug,
then tearfully welcomed her husband home.
The kids and Holly waited about 45 minutes until several men came
through the doors. Holly had to point out the boys' father to them.
GARY C. KNAPP PHOTOS
Above: Even a couple days after Bobby's return, he and the boys are
still getting to know each other with hours of on-and-off wrestling
and hugging.
Left: The Whites settle down to watch some television. The boys are
wiped out after playing for hours and Bobby.
Bottom: The ship has been back for a few weeks. The Whites have
settled into their familiar life. After the boys are in bed, Holly
and Bobby find time to be a couple.
by CNB