I am here to tell the story of my soldier and I. I had just turned 21 and was in a horrible car wreck. The next day I attended a birthday party for my nephew. Just a couple of minutes after arriving, in walks this good looking guy name Mycal Prince. Due to all the cuts and bruises, he asks my brother who beat the crap out of me because he would like to find them and teach them a thing or two! Two weeks passed and we didn’t talk and had never actually met.
July 2, 2005 we had a going away party for my brother who was being deployed and who showed up for the going away party? Mycal. We talked and talked for what seemed like hours and from there we were hooked. After that we talked on a daily basis and he even took me to the movies on our first date. I don’t remember the name of it but was more excited just to be around him. After the night at the movies we started dating. I thought I was falling head over heels in love with Mycal and couldn’t believe I had found someone who was so good to me. September of 2005 came around and he was called to active duty to help with Hurricane Katrina. I went and spent the evening with him the day before he left for New Orleans. And that is where the love began.
He told me that he has never told anyone that he loved them, not even his momma (which was bull), but he told me that he loved me that night and I knew from the get go that I loved him. After not hearing from him for a couple of days due to the weather and the devastation there in New Orleans, he finally called to let me know he was ok. We talked on the phone while he was gone and our love grew stronger. A month and a half later he returned home. I drove an hour to pick him up from the armory on October 14, 2005. He stunk so bad but I was so happy to see him. Little did I know that 11 days later would I get married. And that is where our lives together began. October 25, 2005 is when I married my best friend and my soul mate, Mycal Lee Prince. We didn’t have a wedding we just went to the court house and got married there (But had a wedding reception just a couple of weeks later). Even though we got married 4 months after we started dating I do not regret anything I did with him. He was the best person ever and he had a heart of gold.
Mycal and I shared grief through our marriage. We found out in March of 2006 that we were expecting a baby. When I told him he picked me up and swung me around and right away and called his parents. He was excited. 7 short weeks later we lost our baby. It was heart breaking but he never left my side and nursed me through it. I was so thankful for him being there with me and helping me. We were a team and we seemed to manage each other’s pain. After losing our baby, we decided to wait before we tried again but God had bigger plans for us than we did.
Three months later I found out I was seven weeks pregnant with our now 5 year old daughter, Raelynn. We were excited and scared all at the same time. I didn’t know if I should be happy being pregnant or not. But on April 9, 2007 we had a healthy little girl who looks so much like her daddy. He right away fell in love with Raelynn and that is where our love turned into something more. We had a family now. But of course being in the military, as everyone knows, deployments separate families. Six months after Raelynn was born he left for Iraq for a year on deployment. Boy, was I scared to be alone with a six month old and being a first time mom, but we seemed to manage. I don’t know how the military did it, but he was there for every one of her firsts; first tooth, first word (which was dada), first time to crawl and walk and he took his R&R for her first birthday! Mycal soon came home and everything seemed to back to normal. Two years later we had another healthy little girl named Mycaela. She was a joy, just like her big sister, and of course he fell in love with her right away. He came out of the room with her and said “Look at my little fatty!”.
Almost a year later, Mycaela was about to turn one and we found out that there was another deployment coming up for his unit…this time to Afghanistan. It seemed like a nightmare. In February of 2011 he left for his training for this deployment. He got to come home at the end of March for a 4 day pass and we made the best of it. Then he was off to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. April went by and seemed like it took for ever. They gave them a weeks pass to leave post and spend time with their families before they left on May 6th, and 14 hours later I was in Mississippi. We spent a week in Florida and went on a vacation with our girls. Little did we know that this was going to be our one and only family vacation. June 15, 2011 was the last time I ever saw my husband. The last time we ever touched, hugged and kissed. I wish it would have lasted a lifetime. At the end of July is when the units nightmares began with the first KIAs. Then one in August and then came September. I was planning Mycaela’s 2nd birthday party on a day when I knew he was coming off his mission and would be back to skype with us at her party. On the day of Mycaela’s birthday (which is September 13th), he left for his big mission. It was about 1am my time and he tried calling, messaging me on fb, yahoo, and skype…but for some reason I slept through it all! When I woke up just 5 minutes after he got off the internet I felt horrible. On September 15th I woke up and knew something wasn’t right but I couldn’t put my finger on it. So like normal. I got up, got Raelynn ready for school, took her to school and started my day (which was also pay day for us, so I went and paid bills). I got home it was around 11am and l took Mycaela inside and laid her down so she could finish napping. I went back outside and finished bringing my groceries in. After what seemed like just a few short minutes I sat down in my chair to email Mycal and tell him about our day so far. Out of the corner of my eye I caught something green walk to my door. As I looked up, there stood two uniformed men. That is where my nightmare began. I stood up and said ‘Oh my God you have got to be kidding me. It can’t be my husband!”, and I fell to my knees screaming. I knew the reason they were at my house.
The two uniformed soldiers walked in my house and proceeded to tell me that my husband SGT. Mycal L. Prince has been killed in Saygal Valley Afghanistan on 15 September 2011 by an RPG and small arms fire. I remember looking into one of the soldier’s eyes and telling him he was a liar that my husband couldn’t be dead. We had a family and two little girls. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said “I am sorry, ma’am, for your loss!”. My whole life seemed to crumble around me that day. I was heart broken. After my family arrived, my dad and Mycal’s police chief went and got Raelynn from school and brought her home. I remember sitting on my bed with the chaplain and my mother while I held my four year old at the time and I proceeded to tell her that her daddy had been killed. And that he went to go live with Jesus but would never be home again. Her little faced dropped and she cried harder than I have ever seen her cry before. I am so glad Mycaela slept through me screaming and crying.
There is not a single day that goes by that we don’t talk about Mycal, look at pictures or just go to the cemetery to go out there and remember our good times with him. We would have been married for six years on October 25th of 2011. But our lives were cut short. I have learned in the past 8 months not to take life for granted. And to live life to the fullest because you never know when its going to be your last. I am now a widow with two little girls who look just like their daddy, And I am so thankful for them. I have found a lot of comfort and a little bit of healing being around my husbands soldiers who were there with him the day he passed away. They will sit around and talk about him, tell us stories of Mycal, cry with me and laugh with me. I have a lot of new brothers that I didn’t know I had until I lost the love of my life.
My title to my story is forever and always, because I will forever and always love my husband the way I did (and still do) when we first met. He was truly my prince charming, and I am so thankful for the wonderful 6 years we had together. I am so glad that I have two beautiful little girls who will grow up to know that their daddy is a HERO. So my sweet angel, until then, rest in peace and know that I love you forever and always!