Missionary Shopping

I had a date with Alec.  I had it all scheduled with the older school boys that they were to watch the small fry and get their chores done independently while Alec and I went off to do some shopping.  We were going to get the things he needed for his mission.

There is quite a list of things.  Things.  Alec needs to take with him.  Things you take for granted until you have to pack for a two-year trip and you can only take two suitcases and a carry-on bag.  And all those Things have to last and fit and work without failing.

A suit, of course.  Belts and ties and 10-14 pairs of socks.  I think I might own 3 or 4 pair, but I'm not a sock person.  Or a shoe person.  But I digress.  Lots of white shirts and a bunch of dress pants and waterproof winter boots and a good coat with a zip-out liner and sturdy walking shoes and towels and a sewing kit and gloves and an umbrella.  I might have missed a few things.

So we sat down to plan our strategy, Alec and I.  I had recently chatted with a Very Smart Mother who is our neighbor (we are so lucky!) and has a son who just got home from a mission and another son who is currently serving.  She gave me some recommendations on stores to go to and brands that were sturdy and stores we might want to skip.  I relayed these comments to Alec, and we headed to the computer to do a preliminary comparison of prices, just so we would know what we were getting into.

We opened lots of tabs on our browser, comparing back and forth... and then we found a sale.  A sale with white shirts marked more than half off.  A sale with buy-one-get-one-free.  A sale with free shipping.  And before I knew it, the mother-son bonding trip I had so been looking forward to had turned into me looking over his shoulder as he clicked scrolled and added things to his shopping cart.  Mostly, he shopped and I fielded all the normal random questions and concerns from the rest of the children.  Not a shopping trip.  Not one-on-one.  Not bonding.

Sigh.  But really, what is the important thing?  That we are getting the things that he needs.  And that I love him.  And he loves me back.  So proud of this boy.  So proud of the man is is growing into.  I'll love him forever (even if he doesn't want me to sometimes).

Monday Missives

It's a little harder to write a weekly wrap-up from Alec's letters because there haven't been any letters.  It's not that he's a bad son, really.  It's just that this training is a little more laid-back than basic training was, and he gets to call home.  In the evenings.  Whenever he wants to.  Oh, I love hearing his voice.  And I love being able to hold a conversation with him, instead of asking a question and waiting a week or two for the answer.

The downside to this is that he usually calls when I am crazy trying to make dinner.  Not to self:  be less crazy during dinner-making time, which you should be anyway, and a phone call won't be a problem.  And also that after I get off the phone I don't remember as much of what we said.  And sometimes it's hard to hear what he is saying so we do a lot of "what?" and "say that again" which I'm sure gets very annoying.

Anywho...

He's settling into his new place quite well.  He was chosen to be a leader of his platoon.  I think it's called a PG.  Or a GP.  Patrol Goon?  Maybe Patrol Guard.  That sounds about right.  He does have an aptitude for leadership, and I would imagine that the sergeants, having done this so many times, are pretty quick to pick that up.  So my boy is the boss.  Which could be good, except that he hated it.  He and his fellow PG - a gal who can't shout - would get the orders from the sergeants and relay them to their platoon.  But no one listened.  They have 60-plus soldiers to keep in line, and it wasn't working for them.  He was very frustrated about it, to the point of trying to figure out how to get out of the leadership position without outright quitting.  But it worked out (I think a dressing-down from the sergeants did the trick) and everything is peachy again.

He's learning how to be a quartermaster.  Read: cook.  He's enlisted in the National Guard, and this was the job in his unit with the shortest training time.  You can always do more training and change jobs later.  Besides, he doesn't mind cooking.  And I'm ok with that.  He's done a bunch of class work, as well as hands-on in the kitchen.  They like cleaning up at the end of the day (eating whatever they made.).  The other day, it was meatloaf.  He said it makes the dinner time better, to have already eaten and then get to eat more.  They also learned how to use knives.  I'm imagining something like this scene:  

Yeah, I'm sure he will be awesome like that.

Monday Missives

Alec hasn't written home much lately.  He's been busy, I know.  (But who isn't busy?  Really!)  So I sent him a care package with a few things he had requested (shoe inserts, Febreeze, band-aids, deodorant...), and a pre-printed letter.  That way, he just had to circle a few answers for multiple choice and true/false question and sign it.  Oh yeah, and an addressed, stamped envelope.  Hoping he got the idea.

Dear Mom,
Thanks for the package!  I really appreciate all the love you send in your letters and packages!  Sorry I haven't written much, but I've been so busy.  I did want to tell you a few things about what I've been doing...

My favorite course is the
A. obstacle course  - too easy
B. 5 course meals they serve us.  try 3 meals per day, one tray of food, 10 minutes to eat it.
C. confidence course - what confidence?
E. Play Station, of course! - what is that?  :-)

I would recommend boot camp to
A. everyone age 18 and up - yes and no
B. only those who have nothing better to do. - there are better things to do
C. those who want to lose weight and get in good condition. - you have to be in good shape to get in
D. those who feel the need for punishment. - if you want punishment, go steal something

Running
A. is bad. - cuz of shin splints
B. isn't so bad. - it's getting better and easier
C.is getting much easier. - and longer
D. is great! - I have to say, I do like running now

When I get done with training, I plan to sleep until
A. 9 am.
B. 11 am.
C. afternoon sometime. - whenever I wake up, for the first week or so, them back to 5 or 6 am
D. 5 am.  Boy I love to get up early!

I am often
A. the leader. - yes
B. among the front runners. - yes
C. always dead last.
D. in the middle of the pack
E. toward the tail end. - pushing people

My attitude
A. is pretty good overall.
B. is the best in my platoon
C. is the worst in my platoon.
D. not sure - too busy to think about it. - YES
E. is that I'm gonna make it through this no matter what. - YES

T or F My mom wears army boots. - does she?

T or F After I graduate from boot camp I'm going to sleep all day long. - for a few days

Love,
Alec

Haha, this is awesome!  Sorry for not writing any letters in the past few days/weeks.  I'll try to be better in future.  :-)

Monday Missives - Graduation Requirements

We got a phone call from the army boy this Sunday, which was good because He. Wrote.  No.  Letter.  This is an issue that may need to be addressed.  Don't you have to write home to your mother?  Oh well.  We got a phone call, anyway.

He said they have moved up from white phase to blue phase, which means they get about 2 hours of free time every day (that's more than I get!  Mumbling something about having time to write your mother).

They passed their PT tests.  Shoot me now.  5 perfect push ups in a minute, 47 sit ups in 2 minutes, and a 2 mile run in less than 17:30.  Alec did 44 push ups, sit ups in the high 50s, and got 13:11 in his run - except that he walked the last quarter mile because he got shinsplints.  I might be able to do the quarter mile in less than 17:30.

He asked us to send toilet paper, because what they have there is nasty 1-ply scratchy stuff.

Another graduation requirement was a 16 K march, and they took care of that on Friday.  Other than that, they went on a 4 day, 3 night campout (bet he would have loved to sleep in our tent trailer!), has had lots of combat training, and his voice is hoarse from singing load while marching.

He said he misses home, and wants to eat dinner in a restaurant where he can just sit there and enjoy his food.  He'd like to be there for hours.  I've never known him to eat slowly; he's always been the king of the quick scarf.  But only having 10 minutes to eat makes you want to savor a bit.

Here they are doing a drill where they have to get their whole group up this tower, without ropes.  It's hard to tell on this picture, but each platform of the tower is wider than the one lower, so they are not just climbing up, but out and up.  I guess he's the step stool, but he said they worked together and got it done quickly.  Go, boy, go!

Monday Missives - Boot Camp

One reason I haven't been writing very much this summer is because I've been getting my writing fix in composing letters to my boy.  I thought it might be fun to share some of our messages (he's ok with it - I asked!) on Mondays.

(Alec, middle of July) The weather has been crazy!  It has been 100 degrees plus almost every day that I have been here.  That generally means that by mid-day we are in "heat cat. five" uniforms, which consist of unbuttoning the wrists of our jackets and rolling up our pants to the top of our boots.  (I haven't gotten one blister yet, although my feet are sore every day.)  By dinnertime we have to go take a cold shower and change into P.T.s, (short sleeve shirt and shorts).  But the last few (3) days we have had rain and thunderstorms.  I love the rain, but it makes training miserable in unbearable ways.

(end of July) I'm still adapting to the military lifestyle... We are still in red phase.  Red phase is what they call total control, we can't do anything without a drill sergeant.  Once we phase up to white phase, we get more time at night for personal stuff, which means that you will get letters more frequently.  

(Answering some questions we asked)  Is basic hard?  Yes and no, because it is physically demanding on you every day, and you are sore 24/7.  Yes because of all the mental stress and pressure they put on you.  Drill sergeants are always yelling, you're always running.  No, because it's like summer camp sometimes.

What do I do for fun?  Nothing.  I have no time to myself.  That's the short answer.

What is basic like?  A lot of P.T., yelling and running, and classes that put you to sleep.

What is my schedule like?  Wake up at 0400 or 0500, formation for accountability at 05:45, P.T. from 0600 to 0700, change, breakfast at 0800 to 0900, training until noon, lunch for half an hour, back to training 'till 1700, train, clean, personal time for 30 minutes, then lights out at 2130.

I have to say, I do miss home.  I miss just being able to go for a bike ride or take a nap whenever I want to.

(from my recent letter)  We survived the first day of school.  David went to school a day early, for the 7th graders to find their classes and get lost without fear of getting pounded.  He did get lost a few times, but he's getting it down fairly quickly.  He has men's dance, and thinks he'll be able to do the splits by the end of the term.  

Ben's choir teacher had exclamations about how long his hair is getting.  She doesn't want him to cut it because they are doing an Elvis song for their fall concert, and his hair (dyed dark, of course) would be "just perfect" for an Elvis pompadour.  Ben is typically hesitant to even try out for the solo, not liking to perform in public.  

Chris is happy that he is playing tenor saxophone again this year, instead of having to lug around the heavy bari.  He is in the AP computer science class that normally only seniors take - and he's bored so far.  I think he will really enjoy that one.  

We walked Eddie to school today... and Trent called in a bit late to work so he could come along, too.  Eddie already likes his teacher a lot.  It was a hard decision to figure out where he should go to school, but I think we made the right choice (to have him at our neighborhood elementary).  I'm at peace now and the worried, anxious feelings have vanished.

I am looking forward to spending some focused time with these little ones (Angel and the twins) in home preschool (I have taught preschool at home to all the children).  I think some of their recent trends of temper tantrums and moodiness is due to not having enough mental challenges.  No matter how much we'd like to quit something uninteresting, or how much we think we deserve a break, the fact remains that we are not meant to be sedentary creatures.  Our bodies, minds, and spirits were designed to be stretching and growing.  As soon as we get comfortable in a state of relax, we start to atrophy,  Our muscles weaken, our minds get mushy, our resolve starts to dissolve.  There is nothing wrong with resting - we do require some downtime - but it needs to be short.  Continuing and working and enduring is what we should be about.  Not too fast, but just steady.

Love, Mom