Miles Apart, Naval Officer Reads to His Kids Every Night

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, MA – Veronica Boblett lives on Hanscom Air Force Base with her four kids – Ryan, Annaleigh, Luanna and Emmalynn, ranging from six to 13 years old. Her husband, Petty Officer 1st Class Rex Boblett, is stationed in Boston Harbor. But he still reads to his kids before bedtime.

Even when he was overseas, and the time difference meant it was daytime for Rex and nighttime for his family, he was in front of them reading their favorite bedtime stories.

Veronica Boblett estimates her husband's deployments add up to about four years. But Rex Boblett was not going to let thousands of miles keep his family apart – not for four years. The Bobletts connected with United Through Reading, a nonprofit that helps military families maintain the bonding experience of reading out loud together by sending recorded messages home.

Soon enough, Rex started putting all of his kids' favorite stories on DVDs. And because he had a private room to record, he turned the stories into Dad Performance Art, making goofy faces, acting out certain parts and speaking in the characters' voices.

He'd also occasionally deviate from the story and talk and interact with them. For the Boblett kids, it was almost like he was in the room.

"Nothing really hit home for the kids before we met up with United Through Reading," Veronica said about her children coping with their father being overseas. "They could see him, they could hear him. It was the experience of bedtime stories that was such a part of the routine every night."

The Bobletts' experience is featured in the latest "Chicken Soup for the Soul," subtitled "Military Families." Theirs is one of 101 heartwarming stories of families of servicemen and women told in the book, ranging from moving and living in foreign countries, to handling the absence of loved ones, to creative ways of celebrating holidays when families are a world apart.

"Chicken Soup for the Soul" was released May 9. A portion of the paperback and ebook sales will go toward supporting service members, veterans and families.

Image via Veronica Boblett