Home > Georgians@War > Archives > 2007 > February > 24 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USFor Daddy’s girl, questions about time — and trust
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Katie Hutnick understands the passage of time the way most children do: how-long-until.
How long until we eat?
How long until we get there?
How long until I go to kindergarten?
This morning the question is: How long until Daddy gets back from Iraq for good? The short answer is six months.
Even at 5 years old, Katie senses that is not the only answer. There’s another possibility, one that no one in her Alpharetta home wants to think about for long.
For two weeks and three days, Katie has had a taste of what it will be like if the short answer proves true. Her father has been home on leave from duty as commander of Company H, 121st Infantry of the Georgia Army National Guard.
Over there he is Capt. Kenneth Hutnick. Here, he is Daddy.
She has spelled out that name for him with stickers of red and yellow on the back of a kitchen chair. Though he timed his return home to see Katie’s newborn sister Ashlyn, for Katie his visit has been a nonstop party. One day Chuck E. Cheese, the next Monkey Joe’s, the next weaving and bobbing through the wooded backyard, pretending to be dinosaurs and ghosts. He even sat through a Barbie movie.
Now, in the final moments before he leaves to return to Iraq, Katie does not want him out of her sight.
He sits at the breakfast table holding Ashlyn, swaddled in pink fleece. “Daddy, I don’t want you to go,” Katie says.
“I know, but it’s only for six more months, and then it’ll be your birthday. And where are we going?”
“Disney World!”
She plants a kiss on his cheek and wedges herself onto his lap. Her legs, in rainbow-striped tights, dangle over the knee of his camouflage uniform.
***
This is Hutnick’s second deployment to Iraq. The first time, at the start of the war, Katie was too young to grasp what was going on.
Now she’s like a sponge. So Hutnick doesn’t talk about what he does in front of the kids. He and his wife, Suzanne, couch it in terms of going to work rather than going to war.
Most people come home from work every day safely.
The kitchen still smells of toasted English muffins and coffee when Katie makes her announcement.
“OK, everybody, it’s time to say goodbye to Daddy.”
Katie’s grandfather steps outside to warm up the car. He has driven up from Byron to take his son to the MARTA station. Katie will stay behind with her mother, sisters and their part-time nanny. The hugs and kisses begin, but Katie’s goodbye will not be simple.
“Can you throw me in the air one last time before you leave, Daddy? As high as you possibly can, Daddy, as high as you can.”
The hem of her petal-pink dress flutters in the air as he throws her higher and higher, seemingly as high as the bare treetops outside the family room windows. On each ascent, Katie squeezes her eyes shut.
The look on her face says she’s certain that her father’s hands will not let her fall.
***
By the time Ken Hutnick boards the train to the airport, Katie has performed a puppet show in the downstairs playroom, taken a bow and found a clear spot on the toy-strewn floor. She props her diary in her lap.
“Mommy, where’s Daddy?”
“Daddy went back to work.”
“OK.”
Katie pops the cap off a yellow marker and writes in wiggly lines that seem to her the way grown-ups do. She reads aloud:
“Today Daddy went back to Iraq. I’m very happy he did not get killed in the war and that he had a safe journey back here to see us. We had a good time. I love Daddy. He’s the bravest ever. P.S. I hope he comes back safely.”
Her mother smiles, but Suzanne’s eyes are full of surprise, if not alarm. Where has her child heard that? “Yes, that’s a good thing to hope for. Let’s pray for it every night,” Suzanne tells her.
Katie puts the diary down and jumps up to play with her 2-year-old sister, Erin.
Suzanne remains on the floor, her eyes fixed on the pages of yellow squiggles.
***
Later, Suzanne is nursing Ashlyn in the family room. Katie arrives with a sheet of Hello Kitty stickers which she proceeds to put on Erin and her mother. She also has more questions.
She pries herself a spot between the soft arm of the couch and the warmth of her mother. The pink watch on Katie’s wrist measures minutes and hours, not months.
“Mommy, how long is six months?”
“Well, six months is a long time. It’ll be summer, and we’ll almost be ready for school. But Daddy will be able to take you to the bus stop.”
“Yeah, I won’t be in pre-k then.”
“That’s right, you’ll be in kindergarten.”
“I wish it was one week. I wish it was one day.”
“Me, too. You know Daddy’s gonna be all right and OK, and he’s gonna come back?”
“I don’t know he’s gonna be OK.”
“Yes, he will. He’ll be OK, and he’ll come back.”
Katie stares at a Baby Einstein video on television.
A juvenile version of a Mozart concerto fills the room.
***
By midafternoon Katie isn’t feeling well. She has a fever, and she’s throwing up. Stomach virus, her mother figures. Suzanne builds a fire in the fireplace to help soothe her, while Katie lies on the couch. A “Curious George” video keeps her entertained.
Erin and Ashlyn are down for naps. In the relative quiet of this February day, their mother goes through the family budget to see how much longer she can keep the nanny. Another mom at Katie’s preschool helped raise money to hire the extra hands.
Three kids under the age of 6 are quite a lot to handle, particularly when the family disciplinarian is overseas.
Soon the phone rings.
It’s Ken. He’s at the Atlanta airport waiting for his flight to a destination he cannot share.
Suzanne tells him about Katie’s illness. She passes her the phone. In the best I’m-really-really-sick voice she can muster, she tells her father about her tummy ache, blow by blow. She also tells him she loves him.
“OK, I’ll call you back when I’m feeling better, Daddy.”
She trusts that even in Iraq, he will answer if she calls.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Reports from the Homefront
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Susan S
February 25, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
God Bless this family.
By stynes
February 25, 2007 7:14 PM | Link to this
God bless and keep not only the brave men and women who keep our country free but also the families that make such a sacrifice to allow them to do it.
By Paul Bishop
February 25, 2007 10:06 PM | Link to this
God Bless Capt Kenneth Hutnick and each and every one of OUR troops who are in the Middle East defending our freedom and trying to make the world a better and safer place for all. Capt Hutnick, we think of yall often and pray for you and your families every night. Thank you for writing this story. God Bless America!
By Mary Kangethe
February 26, 2007 4:55 PM | Link to this
I thank God for you and your family for the sacrifice you have given to leave your loved ones to serve this great nation. When I read your story I was so proud of your little daughter who believes in you so much that she promises to pray for you daily. As a mother of two children who have seved in Iraq for two tours. I understand what your family is going through but thank God for they know this one thing, that God is in control over your life and you will be back home soon. Thank you for what you are all doing for without courageous people like you we would not be enjoying the peace we have here. May you and your family be blessed as you continue to bless others in whatever you are doing. Mary Kangethe.