On a good day, no one cries at school. At the Veterans Day assembly, the concept is set aside. This was especially true for Sr. Sam Rithamel when she was surprised by Henry Nick Schultz after the assembly.
At approximately 10:00, after an emotional Veterans Day assembly, Sr. Samantha Rithamel had not heard from her currently enlisted boyfriend Henry Nick Schultz in two days. He had been away at boot camp for a while and she missed him. The assembly was especially moving when the speakers talked about the late Andrew Seif. “When they talked about Seif all I could think about what how much I missed Schultz,” Rithamel said.
Although Rithamel hadn’t known where or what Schultz was doing, she dreamt about seeing him. She imagined him a million times walking through the doors of the gymnasium and had even stay up the night before, just thinking of him. The anticipation of when she would see him next consumed her, but thinking about the time they would spend together put her at peace.
She sang with the choir for the fourth year in a row and listened intently to the presentations and speakers. The beautifully moving assembly made Rithamel emotional with the thought of her beloved soldier in the back of her mind. When the speakers were through and all the students were dismissed to class, Rithamel walked over to the bleachers to talk to her mother and hope to confide in her about her emotions. Rithamel looked to her right and saw Schultz’s mother walking towards her and Schultz right beside her. “I turned slightly and saw Schultz’s mom. At first, I thought nothing of it, then I saw him standing right beside her and suddenly I felt all emotions possible. I was crying, laughing, smiling, and over all, overwhelmed. I was so happy to see him,” Rithamel said.
This overwhelming feeling was the best feeling she had in awhile. Schultz was gone and there were other things in her personal life to go on and worry about. She thought about Schultz often and they spoke over the phone and through video chat, but it still wasn’t the same. “When I finally saw him after so long, it felt like we were the only two people in the whole gym,” said Rithamel. Although there was a whole school day left, Rithamel’s mother excused her from school and Schultz and Rithamel would spend the day together.
Veteran’s Day is an emotional day for most people. For a lot of us it is remembrance and a day of devotion and respect for the soldiers fighting for our freedom, but for others it is an emotional set back as their hearts are heavy because a loved one has or is fighting. For Rithamel, the day was emotional in a way she could have never predicted.
