Army BCT Graduation

Or for those who don't know, my oldest daughter has graduated Army Basic Combat Training!

She surprised me one day late last year by coming to me and informing me that, at the age of 21, she would be joining the US Army. As a shocked mom of said child who has never been interested, even remotely, in anything physically strenuous, all I could say was, "Excuse me?"

She had already spent four years in three different colleges (two years as a dual enrollment high school student), and changed her major no less than three times. I understood that she was lost and didn't really know what she wanted to do with her adult life. Not to mention, she was extremely overwhelmed by simply BEING an adult. And me, trying to be the supportive mom, asked all the "Are you sure," questions, and even threw out the, "I'll stand by you in whatever you choose to do, even if I don't like it."

Nonetheless, I cried on May 15th as I watched my eldest daughter walk out of the MEPs office and toward the bus that would take her to the plane that would eventually land her 14 hours away from home for no less than two months.

Over the course of those two months, my daughter and I wrote letters to each other, with the random quick phone call about once every three weeks. In those first few letters, she told me of her trials, pains, disruptions, and unhappiness. Then the mood of her words improved and she was telling me about her triumphs, the friends she was making, and the fun she was having (leave it to my kid to say she was having fun at basic training! LOL!) while learning new skills that would take her far in her newly chosen career.

After months of planning, waiting, tears, worry, tracking my mail deliveries daily to see if she had sent a new letter... graduation day finally arrived!

My husband and I left at 3am on Wednesday morning to drive 14 hours from Georgia to Oklahoma in order to spend a total of 19 hours over the course of two days with our daughter to celebrate her graduation.

She looks so spiffy in her uniform! :D

It was an amazing experience, and I'm so glad we were able to make the trip, but that didn't stop the tears again once I had to tell her good-bye again so the Army could ship her off to her next station for more training and education. She is truly happy, especially now that basic training is over and her body is starting to heal from all the pain it was put through, and I know she will be a great success in her new career choice.

She has been at her new station for over a week now and it has been so much easier on both of us. She's finally able to keep her phone at all times and texts me every single day now. It makes this mom's heart happy to hear from her babies, and especially when they are happy with their choices!

I hope all of my wonderful readers are having a great weekend, and make sure you hug those loved ones even closer.