Countdown to Chi-Town!

If you haven't been reading my blog all that long & are wondering what the heck I'm talking about....

I'm a mom of a US Sailor recruit!  Oh, and for future reference - even though it sounds much nicer to be Sailor Recruit... SR actually stands for Seaman Recruit.

At this writing it has been 52 days, including 2 holidays, since I have seen my son or heard his voice.  As a mom, let me tell you - this ain't easy!  I have gotten about 4 or 5 letters, but since the first letter I got from him ended with (and I kid you not) "I had an infection, but they slit my throat and I'm Ok now.  Love you."  I've been in borderline panic mode.

OMG Really??  Again, this was letter #1.  Your mother hasn't seen you or heard your voice for a month and you end your letter with "they slit my throat."  Awww, how amazingly comforting that was...NOT!  Of course (and if you know me, this will make total sense to you) I wrote him (several) letters.  What do you mean they "slit your throat"?  What the heck is going on?  Are you Ok?
No immediate response - which again, I'm not good at the whole patience thing.  Then, within days after my heart stopped beating from his letter for a millisecond - I saw the very sad news that a SR (seaman recruit) in another division died during daily PT.

Let me tell you - I come from a family of many who have served in the military and made it out alive - but this was MY CHILD now and I was still on "slit my throat" and poor deceased SR - no phone call, not another letter for over a week.

During this time period, I was also supposed to get my "I'm still alive" call.  This call did not come.  Now - I am totally beside myself, and then a letter....

"Mom, I'm really sorry that I missed my call.  I was really hoping to talk to you - but I had to get all my wisdom teeth removed.  It was sick - 4 teeth in 10  minutes - they just ripped them out.  I'm Ok now, but SIQ kinda stinks with all us guys dropping bombs (yayy, thanks for the info, ugh).  There are a lot of fun new noises too."  I'm guessing there were some sort of pain killers involved with this writing... but again - let's leave mom with the thought of "they're torturing me".

Ok, to be fair - there WERE positive aspects of his letter.  He does sound like he's having a good time (when I can get past the throat slitting, death & tooth ripping).  His handwriting has improved greatly and his letters even sound a bit more mature.  Perhaps we could save the blood, pain & farts for dad??

His letters have started coming more regularly now - no more blood and guts - just a really positive young man writing his momma.

Now that I've gotten past the whole fear that the military may kill my baby boy, I'm counting down the days until I go see him graduate boot camp!

I'm so incredibly proud!

...and once again - loose nut behind the keyboard.  This wasn't supposed to post until Monday!

Happy Weekend & Thank you for reading my blog!!

~Jenn