Milestone Misses

“Milestone Misses” is a heart-wrenching poem that captures the complex emotions of a soldier returning home after a long deployment, only to realize the profound cost of his absence from his daughter’s life. It paints the internal struggle of a man who has given everything to serve his country, yet finds himself grappling with the irreplaceable moments he missed while he was away.

The poem begins by describing the soldier’s last days of deployment. The anticipation of returning home is overwhelming, but tinged with a deep sense of loss. He left behind a loving wife and a one-year-old daughter—a baby who was just learning to walk, talk, and discover the world around her. For the soldier, this separation was not just a physical absence, but a loss of time—time that can never be reclaimed.

As he touches down on home soil, excitement and relief rush through him. He hurries toward the gates, eager to reunite with his family, to feel the warmth of their embrace after months of separation. The joy of returning home, however, quickly gives way to a gut-wrenching moment of realization.

In the lines:
“Through the gate with happy glee, and then I saw what I couldn’t believe…
The little one, so soft and cute, ran to the gate to daddy’s love.”

The soldier is hit with the painful truth that, in the time he was away, his daughter has grown. She’s no longer the baby he left behind; she’s a little girl, with a personality and presence all her own. In that instant, his heart sinks. He has missed her first words, her first steps, her moments of joy and pain.

The poem captures his struggle as he holds her tightly, trying to mask the guilt that has taken root in his chest. His embrace is both an act of love and an apology—an attempt to make up for the milestones he will never get back. But the realization is unavoidable: there are things he will never witness, moments he will never share, and memories that are now lost forever.

The soldier’s silent apology to his daughter echoes through the verses. His love for her is immeasurable, but the price of his duty is one that can never be repaid. The poem closes with the soldier accepting the deep, undeniable truth that time lost cannot be regained, and that some memories—those precious milestones—are now gone forever.

As he looks at his daughter, now a little girl instead of the baby he left behind, he knows he will forever carry the weight of those missed moments. And while his heart aches with the knowledge that he can’t change the past, he hopes his love will be enough to carry them through the years to come.