Countdown

Hey Karen, we will give you all the hugs you need. You have so much to be proud of. Your son is certainly a great source of pride. Your new job is going well and you should be proud of that as well. It is great to see you posting more, but I am sorry if you feel a bit depressed. I am here if you need anything.

Thanks kash...appreciate that. I am very proud of him although lately I have been ready to kick his tail up between his ears! You seems to forget that he still lives under my roof and "forgets" to call when he is going to someplace to let me know when he is giong to be home, so I sit up waiting!!!

I tell you, I am less stressed since starting this new job! That is a big plus. I am sure if I had stayed where I was at, I would eventually had been fired. The "new" boss did not like me and he was doing everything he could to make my life miserable.

Karen...From one Air Force Mom to another...It is sad to see them go, but it is such and awsome experience to go to Graduation and see the man they have become. Mine has completed his training and is at his new duty station for his last two years of training and I am constantly amazed at the changes in him. He suprised us at Christmas and he came home in his blues two days early to suprise us. This is an amazing time for him. We bought his first brand new car and sent him on his first road trip 11 hours away from us. I am so proud of him.

I am excited for you and your family. I know the next few weeks will be difficult and that waiting for that first phone call after he goes to basic will seem like an eternity....If you need anything I ( along with the rest of us) will be here for you, you know where to find me.

Your son is an amazing young man and I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers over the next few months. God bless you all.

From one Karen to another- you know you can PM me if you need to talk!! What an amazing young man your son is! He, as well as all of you will be in my prayers.

Post when you need to or want to- we are here to support you!!Love ya..Karen :D

you and your family will be in my prayers for safe keeping!

:rose:

Kyle spent the night at a buddies house last night and for some reason I woke up and looked in his room and he wasn't there and just got so down in the dumps! He is my first and only son and we have been so close since he was a baby and this is so hard to think about him leaving. I know I will see him when he graduates and I am sure I will be bursting with pride, even now I am, but just the thought of him leaving home! I knew I was going to be sad, but as the time gets closer, I am surprise about how affected I am about it! Even though I will still have my daughter around, him not being there, well it is so hard for me to imagine. I know I am being sappy and other mothers go through this too, but I guess because I have always tried to be the strong one all the time, I am just surprise at myself. I mean I buried my grief when I lost twins due to a tubal,(one in uterus 1 in tube), to be there and supportive of my brother and his then wife, I contained my grief when my grandfather died to be there for my mom. When I went through my separation and divorce from my first husband, I kept every thing buried for my kids. I hate for people to see me cry or break down, but this time, it has been hard for me to contain!

I marked off another day on the calendar and had tears in my eyes when I did it. Can't believe the first week of Jan is almost gone! :cry:

Ok, here is what is going on so far....Kyle met with his recruiter yesterday and had to sign some more papers. Today is the 6th so in 22 days he goes to the hotel room and in 23 days he leaves! I watched him with is recruiter and just could not help but wonder where the time went. I just know it went too fast!!! Also was told that once he is done with basic, he will not get to come home but go right to tech school for about 20 weeks and then he will get 2 weeks off and then go to his duty station. He will come out of basic as an E2 and after tech school he will be an E3, due to him signing up for 6 years instead of 4. I tell you, time is just going by too fast. We are going to have him a going away party the 26th, so I hope he enjoys that.

Well, need to get some things done or I will sit and think about this all day, but did want to give you an update.

Hi karen..Happy new year!

I know its hard to be proud and sad at the same time :wink: ...he is lucky to have you by his side.

It is very hard to do. I just didn't know how hard it really was going to be! My husband and my brother laugh at me when my emotions get to me and tell me that Kyle has to grow up sometime and it is not like I am not going to see him again, but life is funny sometimes, you never really know what is around the corner. Right now I just try to keep a brave face on, crack jokes, and try to spend as much time with him as I can and make sure I tell him I love him every day!!!

....dont forget, its okay to cry. :wink:

This is going to be such an adventure. When my husband was in basic I wrote him 2x a week until I received a letter from him asking me to write more often and send more pictures. So be sure you write a lot. Begin writting even before you get an address to send him mail to because you likely won't recieve your first letter with how to reach him for 2 weeks. Also send care packages but make sure it follows the rules or else they will send it back or take it away until they are able to come home on leave.

I will be able to send him care packages once he gets to Tech School, but not at basic. I am sure before he leaves I will be writing to him. I am also sure that he will find a "surprise" card in his stuff when he unpacks at basic. Sometime on his first day, he will be able to call us and give us his mailing address, and you can bet there will be a letter waiting to go out. I usually am not a good letter writer, but I do know when I was married to my ex and he was deployed, I wrote almost every day and he would get long letters. (He was Navy).

Karen, You are the mom and you get to feel and react any way you want. I was emotional before mine left and I cried when he got on the van at the recruiter and I sat in his room every day the first few weeks he was gone and I cried when I first got to talk to him. Nothing wrong with that. And he kept the stack of letters I wrote and teased me during his Graduation. We are all here for you and I know I for one have large shoulders that do not mind a few tears. :wink:

Just be careful about tearing on the letters you write, they smear the ink :lol:

My son told me last night to remember that he was not a good letter writer, but I keep telling him he may be better at it than he thinks. I told him that it would be a way of feeling a little closer to us.

As far as tears smearing the ink, I am sure there will be a lot of smeared ink!!!!

Dont know if you guys can do this, but lots of people dont like to write letters. They use small tape recorders and just talk. They mail the tapes to each other. Not only do you keep up with each other, but you also hear each others voices.

Yeah, I had mentioned that to him, but he will have to check into that for basic. I know there are a lot of restrictions there. They cannot eat anything in the barracks, no candy, no gum, nothing and if they get caught, they can get in trouble. I know there is also a restriction on what type of electronics they can take with them also, so we will have to see. I know when he goes to tech school I can send him tapes and video, but at basic, we will have to wait and see. Thanks for the idea though

20 days from today!!! I tell you, I have gotten to where I am not sleeping well at all. Woke up this morning and felt almost sick. Not like I have an illness or anything like that, just physically sick. Ugh....I hate feeling wishy washy! Everytime I look at my son, I just want to cry and yet, my chest bursts with pride. He is getting a bit ansey (sp) also. It is like knowing that the sooner he leaves, the sooner it will be over and he can get to tech school and get on with things, yet dreading going. What is bad for me right now is my heart palputrations are a little worse than they were and I am 100% sure if has to do with this.

Anyway, will keep you posted on what is going on.

2nband- I have heart problems and the palpitations when I get stressed also. I know it will be hard-but try to calm down and take some deep breaths!! It isn't wish washy at all- just a mother who is proud, scared, and unsure!!

Hang in there- waiting is the hardest part of anything!! WE are here to support you and you and your sone are in my prayers!!..KAren :D

Well, now I have more thown into the mix. I had just took a break and tried to call my mom and turns out she has gone to my grandmother's house because my grandmother has had some mini strokes and been in the hospital and just came home! Nothing like being kept informed about how my grandmother (who will be 91 in May) is doing. My dad was not suppose to tell me, so I found out when I called my mom on her cell, since she was on the way there. She figured I had enough to deal with, but dang it, this is my last grandparent and she should let me know this, especially when my grandmother is as old as she is! You know, I don't drink and I don't smoke, but if things keep going like they are, I am going to start doing both!!!

Well, as of today, we are down to 2 weeks. I know I am not reayd for this. Had my first major breakdown this weekend. Unfortunatly my son saw it. I was talking to him about how his dad was behaving and trying to explain to him why his dad was being the way he was and then talking to him a little about my feelings and then all of the sudden the tears started flowing and I could not stop them. I really hate crying in front of people, especially my kids and with Kyle leaving, don't want to make it harder on him that it already is going to be.

This is his last week of work at his job, which in a way I think he is looking forward to. We are still needing to get a few things for him, some shower shoes, phone card, envelopes, stamps, travel size shampoo, toothpaste, etc because they will give him a prepaid visa or mastercard to go get the other things he will need. We are going to need to start getting him packed up so all his stuff will be ready to go. I have got to go get a couple of cards for him so I can put at least one in his suitcase, well there might be 2 since Valentine's Day is coming up.

But we are almost there. :cry:

I am so stressed right now. The closer it gets the worse I feel. I think I got just a few hours sleep last night. All I seem to do is toss and turn all night. This is my son's last week of work. Did notice he is getting "short-timers" at work though. I understand but told him he still needed to do the best he can. I am trying to stay up-beat, but boy it sure is hard!! I cannot convince my folks to come out for his party or to come see him before he leaves. My mom said that it would be too hard for her. He is the first grandchild and the only grandson and she remembers what she went through when my brother went and she said she just could not do it again. I sure could use her here, but I think I am fighting a loosing battle. Right now she is in KS and won't be back until Thurs, but then she tells me that she will be getting ready to go back to my grandmother's because what would have been my grandfather's birhday is coming up on the 20th and my grandmother has a hard time, especially since he died Jan 4th and his birthday is Jan 20th. I know I will survive, but it sure is hard right now. I know for a little while after he leaves I am going to be a mess, but then it will be counting down the days until I see him again. Being a mom sure is tough!!!!!!!!!