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Last updated 5:08 am CT February 09, 2010.
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West Frankfort Rummage Sale
Sale For Soldiers
Tish Osterhout can tell you, its not easy to say goodbye, even if only temporarily...
"You just try to think of like, he'll be back and you can start your life and just push pause. You just have to get through it."
Tish's fiance, Specialist Jimmy Rice, was deployed to Afghanistan about a year ago along with 80 others with the Illinois National Guard out of West Frankfort. She says she made sure he left without doubt...
"Everyone loves you, and we all want you to come home safe. I just really wanted to make sure he knew his family loves him, and we're really pulling for him over there."
Rice left behind Tish and their then 6-month-old son. And, all of their little one's firsts...
"I just cannot wait to have him see everything, you know what I mean. To have him see him walk and chitter-chatter and have him hug him. I just can't wait."
The countdown to that day has begun. Rice and his group are scheduled to come home in about a month. And when they do, Tish is planning a hero's homecoming...
"Have yellow ribbons everywhere- have flags everywhere."
But, she had to figure out how to pay for it all.
"I was like, ahhh, what can we do. And I just happened to come across a rummage sale. Oh, well, we could do that. That can't be that hard."
She says, with help from the Orient American Legion and others, Southern Illinois soldiers can get the welcome home they deserve...
"They've got to know that people support them and that they appreciate the fact that they've really missed a year of their lives."
By: Rachel Gartner
rgartner@wsiltv.com
Now: 1265714322
