Surrounded by family on the couch, Diane Cross cherishes her last few days at home before this soldier returns to Iraq. "I'm just trying to go around and visit everybody and say my farewells," Cross said.
Cross is home on an 18-day break from Iraq, her first trip back since leaving last October. She works security at an airforce base near Baghdad, checking convoys coming from across the world. "We have to make sure they have valid ID's, driver's licenses, that they are who they say they are and won't hurt us," Cross said. A serious job that she's proud of. But happy to leave for a while and see one her daughter's leave her childhood and graduate high school. Her sister Tyra also had a family reunion. I got to see all my nieces, nephews everybody was there," Cross said. "I want to know that while my sister was here, I did everything possible here to make her happy," Tyra Johnson said. It's time her sister treasures, especially hearing about the recent news of a Rockford soldier killed in Iraq. As Cross gets ready to leave, there's some tears...as she reads this framed, family blessing, and this little book, filled with prayers from relatives. "Whatever I need to do to make this easy for her I'm going to do" Johnson said. A family promise to get their loved one home once again around the couch.