Brooke Anderson leaves Kuwait for holiday homecoming in Morris

Home for the Holidays – the Morris celebration on Thanksgiving weekend – was a wish come true for one grateful family with a soldier overseas. It was just the preceding week that Brooke “Brooklyn” Anderson surprised her family by arriving a few days early in her hometown after an almost year-long absence while she served in Kuwait with the Illinois Army National Guard.

That holiday weekend already found her back in her volunteer role helming the festival’s winter carnival hosted for children by the Morris American Legion.

Service to her country and entrepreneurship are separate passions nimbly balanced by Anderson, mother to 2-year-old Sawyer and 5-year-old Tayah, and co-owner of three restaurants with husband Matt, including The Hideout inside the Morris American Legion, where the family-friendly restaurant and bar are open to the public.

As Anderson’s husband prepared for the Labor Day weekend opening of The Hideout Two at 1505 Creek Drive in Morris, she joined in on calls from the Middle East to help finalize plans and staffing for the new spin-off.

Newly returned, she jumped back into the restaurant world right away, she said.

“We have lots in store for the new place,” she said of the fine-tuning process at The Hideout Two, for which her husband, a former contractor, custom built the bar. She added that patrons can look forward to the large outdoor seating area when warm weather returns.

She’s not likely to miss the Kuwait heat that reached 132 degrees Fahrenheit this past summer, but in a trade-off, her allergies were absent until her return stateside, she said.

“I was in charge of a warehouse – and everything inside I can’t really talk about,” Anderson said of her Kuwait mission. “I had a lot of active duty soldiers … that I was in charge of. I was merged with Navy and Marines.”

She also worked a week in Iraq, and just before her deployment ended, was promoted in rank from E-5 to E-6 staff sergeant.

Anderson joined the National Guard in 2015, and this was her first deployment. She spent January in pre-mobilization preparation at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

She said she’s thankful her daughters were young enough that they “only knew mommy was gone and not that mommy was gone for so long.”

The children also were fortunate to have Anderson’s mother and stepfather pitching in, Stacey and Erik Olson, owners of True North in Morris, a tourist attraction for shoppers, featuring about 200 vendors.

“She’s a very strong mother and soldier, and we’re glad she’s back,” Erik Olson said.

Tayah told her grandparents, “I’m glad mommy’s back. I’m very excited.”

Thanksgiving was wonderful with Brooke home, Stacey Olson said, adding, “The girls are back to the schedule with mommy like they never missed a beat.”

Worries have eased, too, she said, recalling calls from her daughter: “‘Don’t worry. You’ll see stuff on the news. I’m safe.’ It’s a little nerve-racking.”

Among the letters thanking veterans published last month in the Morris Herald-News, Stacey Olson, wrote: “The sacrifices you’ve made this year while deployed overseas are unimaginably hard. You put on a brave face while missing a year from your daughters’ lives. The little things like first words, dance recitals, Corn Fest, birthdays, boo-boos and hugs. Thank you for your service. You are strong and someone I look up to.”

During the deployment, Stacey Olson said the family was grateful to community members for their concern for Brooke.

Meanwhile, Anderson, who called the experience “fun for the most part,” said she would encourage anybody to consider joining the National Guard. The fundamental commitment entails one weekend every month and two weeks every summer.

“Once you get through basic and job training, it’s a great career of choice,” she said. “And the health insurance it gives my family is amazing. You can join when you’re a junior in high school.”

Stacey Olson reminds everyone that service members appreciate care packages.

“If [people] are looking for a way to get in touch, the American Legion can get that coordinated,” she said. “The auxiliary has addresses and continually mails out packages. They do miss home … Christmas is going to be hard for a lot of [them who] are kids [the] first time away from home for the holidays. … My husband and I would send [Brooke] packages. It meant the world to get some gummy bears, little things, it doesn’t have to be much. It gives them something fun to break up the monotony of every day over there.”

For those considering what possible items to send, Anderson said she appreciated receiving flavor enhancers to disguise the sometimes less-than-tasty bottled water. And she advises against sending chocolate, because it’s likely to melt during transit, but chips, snacks and candy are a hit.

Now back home, she is slipping back into her civilian roles and non-military operation plans. As restaurateurs, she and Matt have separate responsibilities.

“He takes back of the house and I take the front,” she said.

He oversees the cooks and food orders, while she works with servers, staff and bartenders, and makes sure the bar is stocked for the “fancy new drink menu.” (The military post in Kuwait was dry when it came to climate and no-alcohol rules.)

The menus are similar, but do differ between the two Hideout locations.

“I love all of our food,” Anderson said. “[Among] my favorites, the pot roast sandwich is my to die for here, my go to.”

Anderson said she also is bar manager at the Legion post, adding, “The Legion’s been my home since I joined the military.”

The couple also own The 252 in Seneca, a seasonal restaurant catering to the marina crowd and set on the Illinois River. It will reopen in the spring, and features such specialties as smashburgers and pizzas.

“It’s up on top of the water [with] giant glass windows in the front where you see the river,” Anderson said. “It’s beautiful.”

So is being home for the holidays.