WOW!

As of May 15,2009,... my son is a United States Marine!



Marine graduates praying,.........




Marine Graduates ,..at ease,...

On Family Day,..........





And they still like each other......absence makes the heart grow fonder. Something to that brother and sister thing!
No TV for three months!
At Mission Beach........
Teaching Kassi some fightin' moves!

With Christina,...
Christina and her husband Keegan met us in San Diego for the graduation and the weekend! Darling couple they are! Love them! With Mark at the beach......
Pam met us there too! Yeah!
It has been a while since I posted. Between graduation and our extra 3 days in San Diego, Denver being home for a week, and about 4 days to get a grip again. I'm back. Of course right back to work, literally the day we flew in,..I have been running like a crazy person. We had a great trip, the graduation ceremony was very moving. San Diego weather,..beautiful, sunny but cool. Got to see and spend time with our California friends, and best of all, got to see Denver. He was just great! He has matured so much. Still cracked us up constantly, but just different. His comments like" mismanagement of time", that impecable manners are now "common sense", and how not being immaculately neat and tidy is "garbage" left us speechless. Someone threw down a piece of paper, he laughed and said "nasty civilians" as he went to pick it up. Who is this??? The same boy I had to freak out on to get his room cleaned up and change his 3 day old sweatshirt? We really enjoyed having him home, and he was able to see most of his friends while on leave. The girlfriend is no more, and he has decided he doesn't need a serious relationship,..says he has more improtant things hewants to be focused on now since (his words) his whole career is ahead of him. Hmmm, well, well, well. He has decided he wants to go active as soon as possible, instead of reserve. If not deployed, he would like to go to Japan,...."travel a little now, while he can". Again,..hmmm. We had an opportunity to discuss the deployment issues and his feelings on dying, killing, and watching others die. I was very impressed with the mature responses I got. Well thought out, definitely not the killing machine mentality. In fact noticed a reduction in temper, and kindness in reacting to other people. Example: An older man spilled his drink and ice all over the floor and table in a restaraunt and Denver got up and went over to help him clean it up before the waitress got to it. He was truly a pleasure to be with. I drove him back to the airport (back to Pendleton) after the week was up and actually had a harder time saying goodbye this time. He said this time was harder for him to go back too, but was looking forward to "getting back to it". He does have a phone now though so we have heard from him 3 times this week already. Much better than letter writing gaps a week at a time. He graduates School of Infantry in three more weeks, then to Missouri for school for four months. :( He says he is doing just fine and enjoying it. Several guys in his platoon are from Seattle area and one from Orgeon, they all got together for a day while on leave. Quite a tight bond they have formed. All good as far as I'm concerned. He was surprised in the time he had been gone that he felt so much different, and came home to friends from High School that hadn't changed much at all. It has been great to sit back and watch the transformation. I am so proud of the person he is becoming,..but even more I think I am so proud of the decisions he is making on his own. He knows the right thing to do. No help needed from me. I had to remind myself when he was here to not hover, that he has done fine without me for several months. He never said anything about it, but I caught myself asking about where he was going and when, etc,.. Had to take a step back and close the mouth. My friend with older children at college says this is normal and that if I'm aware of the over protective hovering, I'm probably not as bad as I think. Makes it nicer when he asks my advice and shares on his own. This letting go, empty nest thing is going to take some practice on my part. Kassi is still home of course, but she has been pretty easy. Denver gets to be the experiment. We laughed about this being the first for both of us, his being a teenager and me trying to raise one. We were able to spend alot of time together, and he and Kassi together too. Over too soon, but all good! We are blessed!