<p>and nurseypoo
some sage stock advice</p>
<p>buy Kleenex stock and use it for your retirement funds!
:-)</p>
<p>You know, I didn’t cry at all until I dropped my son off at the beginning of this year! Why now after all this time, I have no idea. Maybe because I know how quickly the time passes and he’s getting that much closer to being out in the world. </p>
<p>My mother and sister-in-law were messes when we said good-bye to him after the Oath on I-Day, but I was fine. Going to USNA had been a dream for my son since 6th grade and I couldn’t be sad knowing that he was finally able to live that dream, something not many people get to do. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I miss him and think about him every minute of the day, but I know he’s happy and where he needs to be. You can’t ask for more than that as parent.</p>
<p>Just remember that nurseypoo and I’ll bet the sniffling will get better…</p>
<p>It certainly does get better…sniffled through the beginning of Plebe summer, sniffled when I saw the first picture of him on drop shots looking miserable, really sniffled when saw the USNA pictures from IDay and front and center there he was a mess…then the first pictures with smiles, and more pictures of smiles and I no longer dreaded what I might find…then letters that were upbeat…and PPW that we could see peace with his decision and the sniffles have dwindled and been replaced with excitement for all he is doing. </p>
<p>I’m sure the sniffles will reappear like atrmom as Firstie year approaches and another phase of their life - and ours too - comes to a close.</p>
<p>It also helped that as my son could get out and visit his high school friends at their colleges, it reinforced that he’d made the right choice for him. That takes a big load off my mind.</p>
<p>atrmom- I know, I keep trying. I will continue to try and lighten the flow (nose is getting a little irritated)</p>
<p>Peskemom-I feel better knowing it’s genetic and I’m sort of normal, depending on one’s definition. I do need more kleenex!</p>
<p>The funny thing is, and tell me if this happened to you guys. Everyone keeps telling “me and the husband” congratulations. I tell them “thank you” but the boy did all of the hard work and I’ll pass on their congratulations to him. I’m sure they’re being polite and that is a phrase one does use when something good happens for a child. However, somehow along the line, I don’t think they realize the work that went into this by the boy. We just found opportunities.</p>
<p>The boy and I were riding along the other night and out of the blue he says, “When I come back, Mom, I’m going to be different.” I asked him what he meant. He said that he’ll be more mature than his high school friend’s and that some of them tell him, get this, “You’re ruining your life. You’re throwing it away.” WHAT???!!!???</p>
<p>He said they don’t understand and that they’ll still be with Mommy and Daddy and not out in the real world. </p>
<p>He further clarified, not that the USNA is the real world, yet, is that he’ll be learning responsibility, maturity, and knowledge/skills they will never have.</p>
<p>Plus, he’s the first one of his graduating class to find out which college he’s going to.</p>
<p>smart boy you’ve raised there dear ole mom</p>
<p>he’s 100% correct</p>
<p>good job to you, your hubby and to your amazing son!</p>
<p>Yep…I too have the hard time with the whole congratulations thing…but then we hear it too for those going to Princeton, Stanford and the likes so I smile and figure it really did take the village to produce these kids.</p>
<p>“You’re ruining your life. You’re throwing it away.” Never got it from any of his friends but heard it from many a teacher.</p>
<p>profmom2 it breaks my heart that your son and you had to endure that kind of ridicule from educators…yet your story is all too common…</p>
<p>and to think that our children are willingly stepping up to the plate to defend the freedom of that kind of educator to spout that kind of ridiculous ignorance and arrogance is one of the ironies of our lives…</p>
<p>there was a time only 2 generations ago when it was EXPECTED that all families, from the richest to the poorest - served in the military. The Rockefellers, the Bushes, the Kennedys the Roosevelts…all had children in Active Duty even in WW2 and beyond. What a shame that our educational elite have now gotten to the point where they can go their whole lifetimes and never know ONE person in the military!!</p>
<p>It will be the job of winsome, bright, talented and trained young military officers like our children to bring a new face to our nation - and our job as their parents to support, love, pray for and stand behind them proudly.</p>
<p>All of his teachers have been 100% supportive and want pictures of him at PPW.</p>
<p>I think these kids, since they’ve been pretty sheltered, have no idea what’s waiting for them.</p>
<p>Be proud of that boy! I know you are!</p>
<p>I am. Very!</p>
<p>I just wish those kids, and I say K-I-D-S, understood what he was trying to do.</p>
<p>I recall taking a huge box of kleenex with me to I-day…
and then “declaring proudly” to the CC crowd after-the-fact that I had not used a single one… that is was “dad” with the river of tears…</p>
<p>then we went to PPW… and to alumni hall- and while we waited for the Supe’s remarks, they were showing some slides from I-Day and plebe summer… and there I was, big as life, caught in not one but several photos from I-Day with a handfull of tissues and a torrent of tears streaming down my face…</p>
<p>“honestly, i don’t even remember that!!! " I declared…
(Jm’s response…'liar, liar, pants on fire…!!!”)</p>
<p>Anyway… the moment that really caught me was after PPW was over… and the plebes, back in whiteworks, reformed out on T-court… and while Peskemom was trapped in Memorial Hall and Bancroft, we found ourselves “trapped” inside T-court, along the wall of the first wing, just feet away from the company lining up directly before us…</p>
<p>and then it happened… one by one, the companies “reported” back in…“all present and accounted for”… and one by one, each declared that all had returned (we learned later that the 1st regiment had several who did not)… but for 2nd regiment, all had returned, leaving parents and their freedom behind once again…</p>
<p>out of nowhere, the tears started falling (mine, not theirs)- uncontrollable- and I remember trying so desperately hard to hold them back- and it was useless- and those poor plebes standing literally at arms length in front of us… and I remember very vividly a few of the female faces looking at me and I started crying even more… so pis<em>ed that I was making them feel bad wondering if their moms were balling the same way… and I was even more pis</em>ed because I had given my box of kleenex to the other members of our family that were lined up outside T-court… </p>
<p>and peskemom had it right- the silence was deafening… not a whisper… not a sound… they all just started marching back into Bancroft… and we were left there…sobbing…everyone, just sobbing… and then the erruption of a huge round of applause that didn’t end until every last one of them dissapeared back into bancroft… and even then, the many, many parents that just lingered behind, as is lost as to what to do next… I don’t know the last time my heart felt so empty…</p>
<p>I often wondered why the difference… why I-day seemed so much easier, with PPW at the extreme opposite end of the emotional spectrum…</p>
<p>was it because I knew that I would see our son at the end of I-Day? or that PPW was just a few short weeks away?</p>
<p>Or that after PPW, the next meeting would be months away?</p>
<p>I have since concluded that is was deeper than that… that somehow they all had returned to T-court…knowing full well this time what awaited them in Bancroft… turning themselves over freely despite that knowledge… the fact that they ALL returned… </p>
<p>I don’t think I have ever, ever, been more proud… of all of them… and I could clearly see that they were scared too… just as I could see the empathy in their eyes for “me”… some random mom balling her eyes out and trying to hide it…</p>
<p>oh my, I could start crying all over again just thinking about it…</p>
<p>so nurserypoo and the rest of you moms-in-waiting, do get that kleenex… and even more for all the proud dad’s out there…these are moments that are going to wrench your heart, twisting at turning it in ways you never thought possible… you, too, are just a few short months away from becoming emotional basketcases like the rest of us! Welcome to the club~!!! </p>
<p>(snif, snif, snif…)</p>
<p>Navy2010… That was very sweet post!</p>
<p>How was that next meeting at Thanksgiving and then Christmas? Or should I say how was it when they left?</p>
<p>I am dreading those goodbyes.</p>
<p>Somehow the goodbyes after Thanksgiving - and even after Christmas- were not as hard. Not sure why.</p>
<p>Maybe because we had really great visits and had lots of time with our son.</p>
<p>Maybe because we could see that he was happy, and so that made us ok.</p>
<p>Maybe because we knew that after thanksgiving, Christmas was just a few short weeks away… and after Christmas, we had spring break to look forward to…</p>
<p>but then again, I count ourselves as one of the more fortunate ones that are “in reach” of the USNA… abet, about a 5 1/2 hour drive each way… but reachable… so having that chance to see him over a 3-day weekend, with or without liberty, or at the football games, and now with the promise of the lacrosse season finally here… that has certainly made our road a bit easier compared to parents that are futher away… I often think of that poor Momof1 in Alaska… and I realize just how lucky we are.</p>
<p>So my philosophy is this… all the money that would have gone to tuition to xyz college is now put towards making those visits possible… even tomorrow, we will be leaving the house at 5am to make the lacrosse scrimmage at USNA at 1pm… and this time, turning right around to come home for a USNA parents club meeting at 8pm…</p>
<p>will the 11+ hours of driving be worth seeing him for 2 hours? Absolutely, positively, 100% without-a-doubt YES!!! And if you can do it from Georgia, do it…</p>
<p>and even if it means finding a cheap hotel, heck- as long as it has a roof and a bit of heat, I’m good!</p>
<p>Cell phones, the ability to IM, and the Webcam cameras all help… and yes, do buy yourself a good web cam…one for you, one for your plebe… it is so worth every penny you spend on them!!! (btw- the midstore carries them… one at about $40, another about $100… both work, although the quality of the mic in the higher-priced one is a bit better)</p>
<p>The one thing this situation has changed is that we have given up our leased vehicle and turned it in for a non-leased one… just too many miles… but so, so worth it!!!</p>
<p>you will see… that I promise you…</p>
<p>(oh… and did I mention that I couldn’t WAIT for christmas break to be over??? :eek: I guess the missing-you-part only lasts for so long before it’s back to "here’s your cover what’s your hurry… :o )</p>
<p>For us, Plebe year Thanksgiving was kind of tough. Our son was sick, stressed out and he’d brought a friend who couldn’t go home to our house which meant he didn’t get as much time to sleep and relax as he should have. Christmas that year was 100x better and every break since then’s been good. </p>
<p>We did asked him to get an internship last summer while on leave. His friends all had jobs during the day and saw how bored he was the summer before waiting for them to get home. This past summer, he worked for the Military Severely Injured Center. He was happier being occupied during the day and it gave him the evenings to hang out.</p>
<p>That is so cool! Eventually, I’m going to cut back to three days a week instead of 4.5. I’d love to volunteer/work at a Military Severely Injured Center. Not meaning to sound ignorant, where are these located?</p>
<p>why do mom’s cry so easily? be happy! If you tried to explain to an alien what the “crying” emotion means, you’d say humans cry when they are sad. They also cry when they are happy. That would be one confused alien.</p>
<p>Nurseypoo, the MISC is located in VA and was started by the office of the Undersecretary of Defense to provide information and support to the patients at Bethesda and Walter Reed. My brother was the director and unfortunately, it’s getting ready to stand down.
My son worked for a Marine colonel and Army captain doing some amazing things. He visited patients at both hospitals, worked on a booklet to help patients readjust to life at home and spent an entire day on the phone with rehabitation hospitals to find the right one for a solider with a particular brain injury.<br>
The internship made a huge impression on him, so much so that when he got back to USNA, he started a program to have Midshipman visit the patients at Bethesda. He had 70 midshipman sign up to participate…great kids that they are, they want to give back.</p>
<p>Oh, rats. It would be on the east coast. I wonder if they have one or something similar out here. </p>
<p>That’s amazing!</p>