Saturday, September 4, 2010

 


This has been an interesting couple of days. After many letters and few phone calls, the day finally came where I could see my son since he reported to boot camp and physically hug and kiss him.

Words cannot describe the emotions and roller coaster I was going thru as I waited for them to march into the Family Day Meet and Greet location, which because of the rain, was moved to "THE BUBBLE." However, at the moment we heard the chant and heard the footsteps in unison, every hair on my body stood up and the chills taht ran down my spine were something that I will never forget.

Tears flowed from my eyes unabashedly and I let them fall as I blinked through them and saw my son for the first time. The pride I felt in watching him marching as a US Soldier dressed in his BDUs cannot be described. This was the little boy that I held in my arms in 1992 and tenderly looked into his eyes. Here was a man - a US Soldier ready at a moment's notice to defend our country and allow us the freedom we enjoy.

I was anxious for all the prerequisites to be over and to finally get to hug him, but as soon as the word was given it was total pandemonium with everyone rushing to greet their soldiers. It took a few minutes to find him and my husband was the first to see him and hug him. Who says real men don't cry? Tears were there - not afraid to show emotion.

I was so happy to be embraced by my son and to feel those arms around my neck again, not the arms of a little boy looking for comfort, but the arms of a man telling me it was OK to let go and that he was fine.

I am so proud of my son and of each and every soldier in our country. God bless you and keep you safe.
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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Roller Coaster

It has been a total emotional roller coaster this week. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I will finally get to see my son on Sept. 1st since he shipped out to Military Boot Camp Training on June 21st.

It is the culmination of his dream and the realization that I have turned over to the US Army my only son and my baby. But, I am proud of him and what he has accomplished at 17 yrs. of age. What an amazing young man he is and how I love him.

This is exciting for us, can't wait to be able to hug and kiss him and tell him how proud we, his sisters, grandparents are of him and how much we love him.

By they way, we are bringing him his Twinkies and Cookies and Cream chocolate bar as per his request, hope that he doesn't eat them all in one sitting and get sick - might have to dole them out one at a time.

Congratulations to all the parents, families, spouses whose loved ones are also graduating during this week.

Congratulations to D CO 2-10 IN 2nd PLT, Unit 42 - WOLVERINES!!!!!!!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Phone call

Now I am on a natural high. He just called, talked a mile a minute and said, MOM, DAD - 10 more days to go and then we are OK. So I guess he is counting the days until completion, so are we.

It is very rewarding to get the phone call - today he is super happy and giddy and we even got to talk to his friends. They were all laughing and joking around.

How funny it is that when they were home and were carrying on and making noise we tell them to be quiet but now I was happy to hear all that commotion and hearing how normal he sounded.

I hope all the other family members get their phone calls too and are as excited as we are.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Army Graduation

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. Nothing like an emotional roller coaster and not knowing exactly what is happening with your child.

My 17 yr. old, Kevin, decided to enlist in the Army. After some crying by me and some convincing by him and his father, telling me this is what he wants to do, there is nothing out there for teens, no jobs, no money for college, etc., I relented and we signed the documents to turn my son over to the US Army. What a tough decision that was, I felt as I was giving my son a death sentence.

He was very excited and did all his requirements, prepped himself physically and I was impressed. He was determined to be in tip-top shape and his dad and girlfriend worked out with him on a daily basis and he looked good when he left.

He reported at his recruiter's office on June 21 (day after Father's Day). I didn't sleep the night before and I cried the whole way there. He was strong and stoic and so was my husband and his girlfriend, until it was time to say goodbye and it was like the damn broke and the tears just came out and rolled down. I couldn't even talk or breathe, my chest hurt so bad. Plenty of hugs, kisses and goodbyes.

It was the longest ride ever - everyone was crying and crying. Some migraine I ended up with. But we heard from him that night and he told us he was ok, then the next day, then from the airport and then while at reception.

We knew what to expect, we have lots of family members that have served and are presently serving and some included instructors and drill sergeants, so we knew the routine, but it was still tough.

It has been a hard time to walk past his room and not hear him playing Xbox, talking loud, hanging out with his friends, running down the stairs to borrow the car to go to the basketball field to play basketball and I actually miss the steady stream of all his friends not coming through the house and hanging out for dinner, etc.

Oh well, time has flown, calls on Sunday (well almost every Sunday) except for those times they are not allowed to call for the misconducts of others. Asked to send him letters, we did and then he complains that sometimes 8-10 days without a letter then he has to do 10-20 push ups for each letter he wants.

As the weeks went by he sounded better, then stressed out during BRM and then better once he passed. Graduation is almost here - Sept. 2nd and we can't wait to see him and hold, hug and kiss him. Hope he is not too embarassed by all the fuss we make over him.