She was born just after midnight, June 7, 1992 - the daughter to go with two older brothers. She adored them both and when a toddler would strain pull away after a bath while being toweled off, not because she didn't like it, but so she could bolt to her brothers room and commence putting on pair over pair of their underwear, giggling all the while.
She was four years younger than one brother, ten younger than the oldest. She followed them every footstep, and looked adoringly at them, as they did her. Protective of her would be an understatement, especially the oldest brother. She sat in the car seat one Saturday as her oldest brother labored under the strained tutoring of their dad on how to drive a stick shift on a serene State Highway near their home. Oldest brother wasn't doing so well, and the jerking of the car seemed kind of funny, and watching Dad fail at being his instructor was even funnier.
A family tradition to send out a Christmas picture of the three to every family and close friend, and well received to the point that if someone got left out, they would call wondering where their picture was. Thirteen Christmas pictures in all, the last a full family photo as her oldest brother was about to leave for deployment training to go to Iraq a few months later.
As she stopped being less of a "little girl" and started looking more like a pre-teen headed to being a pretty young lady, the oldest brother told his sister he was going to chase away her first boyfried and that she couldn't date until she was 25. He told her he would teach her how to drive, including a stick shift, so she wouldn't have to get stuck with learning from dad. They went out for ice cream, movies, and he looked lovingly at his sister, even talking out loud about one day being an uncle to her children and that he would be the best ever.
She was just 12 at the departure ceremony the day before he was to go to Iraq and he was even more protective. "Don't take her near the south end of the field - Warrior's Walk he said, for that is where the trees and markers are planted for the soldiers of Ft. Stewart who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan." But his dad replied "she needs to see it and understand it son, for we may one day see a tree planted here for you." Four months and a day later, the sister again visted Warriors Walk, as an honored guest with her dad, mom and 20 year old sister-in-law of four plus months, to honor the oldest brother, now dead just a month from a roadside bomb in Iraq.
A few weeks ago, just as her ninth grade year ended, she and a fellow ninth grade boy decided they would be "better" friends and started talking on the phone. The oldest brother would have probably threatened to chase him away, but then relented since he is a good clean cut, christian young man with manners rarely found in a teenager this day and time.
She got her learner's permit today - age 15. He would be so proud and he would have been a great driving instructor. That serene state highway where she laughed at her brother jerking the car as he failed to master the clutch and gas, is still serene and called the SGT Mike Stokely Memorial Highway. When asked by her dad if she wanted to take her first drive on that road, she politely declined as she had a far away longing look in her eye. In due time, she will drive that highway.
He will still be a great uncle, he just will not be there when her kids are born. But his memory, pictures and many funny stories will and they will certainly know Uncle Mike. But oh, how nice it would have been to hear them say "hey Uncle Mike, watch me..."
The cost of freedom is free for many who have nothing at risk, but for this young lady, on her 15th birthday, it is remembered that the cost of freedom for her is a lifetime of love for an oldest brother who willingly gave himself to the country he loved JUST BECAUSE... And, he willingly went so he could protect her here by fighting them there.
Robert Stokely
proud dad Abbey Stokely
and Remembering SGT Mike Stokely
KIA 16 Aug 05 near Yusufiyah in the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad
US Army E Troop 108 CAV 48 BCT GAARNG
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