Home on Leave

We're home with our new Marine! Our trip was good, and Family Day and Graduation were fun. After the Private was dismissed, we drove up to my mom's in Virginia for Thanksgiving. We left Virginia Saturday and arrived back in Florida in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The Marine passed out in the car at 9 PM, being used to getting up at 0400 and to bed at 2100.

I was *very* sick the week before we left and had a relapse in SC the day before Family Day, but I made it. I never did have any pie on Thanksgiving — that's how sick I was. lol But my son made up for me. I've never seen him eat SO much and SO fast. And he hasn't stopped yet.

Apart from being an eating machine, he is exactly the same young man who left for Parris Island 3 months ago. Which is good. Many teenagers do change at boot camp, but Tyler is older and already had the Marine persona and values, so I wasn't really expecting major changes.

He did great and says boot camp was easier than he thought it would be, even fun sometimes. He earned the highest rating of Expert on the rifle range (you can see his badge above), and excelled at all physical and written tests. We're very proud of him!

I'll be scarce for the next week as I catch up with both my son and work. Being down for the count for two weeks has left me with a big pile. The sewing room will gather dust for a while longer.

The Marine will be off again on December 7 for his combat training in North Carolina for a month, then he'll be off to his first school in Pensacola and somewhere else for the next school, the location of which he'll find out after he's through the first school. We won't be seeing much of him for the next few years, but at least he will have his cell phone and laptop back.

I'll leave you with this photo taken at my mom's. He's not entirely pressed out or wearing his ribbon and badge, but we *had* to see him in his Dress Blues. ;-)