July 3-6 Liberty Weekend!

We got lucky: because Friday was a holiday, our sailors graduated on Thursday. That meant that we got a whole extra day with them. They also got to stay out later than most groups because of the holiday.

We (Jamie, me, Leyna, his dad and his stepmom) all finally met up on the Drill Hall deck for a few minutes. Jamie wanted to rush back to his ship, pick up his stuff and "get as far away from base" as he could...as quickly as he could.

The rest of us went to the NEX to wait for him. We were going to buy Tshirts or whatever but the lines were FOREVER long. Of course, we waited FOREVER for him to come back (It was really only about 30 minutes, but it seemed like FOREVER!) and probably could have stood in line, but...

He came back with a huge white cardboard envelope. He handed it to me and said, "Here are your pictures." We had this running joke about pictures, video and yearbook. Every time I said "yes" he said "no." In fact, one of the last things he said to me at MEPS before he left for Great Lakes was "OK...let me make sure I've got this right: NO pictures, NO video and NO yearbook," and then he CRACKED UP!

BUT...when he handed me that envelope, he said, "I got the biggest package I could get. I even got an extra 11x14 so you and Jodi (his stepmom) wouldn't have to fight over it." He also ordered a 2nd video (one for me and one for his dad and stepmom)! I was ASTOUNDED!!

THEN, when I offered to re-imburse him, he said, "Nah, I owe you at least that much!"

We all went out to lunch and just hung around the hotel Thurday afternoon. He looked like he was about to fall over from being tired. We tried to get him to take a nap, but he wouldn't. He did, however, take about 4 showers. The first time he came back after a shower, he said, "It was kinda lonely in there by myself." We all just fell on the floor laughing!

He had to be back on base early because he had watch that night. I have NEVER seen my child worry about being ANYWHERE on time, but he was completely nutting up over the (remote) possibility of being late -- so much so that I left my unfinished meal to take him back. He was there a full HOUR before he had to be!

Friday, we all took the train into Chicago to see the sights. The train ride was pretty cool -- I'd never taken a "real" train. We left WAY too late in the day -- especially considering it was a holiday -- so we didn't really have a lot of time to do much. We did go to the Navy Pier for a while and we saw the Sears Tower, but there was a 90-minute wait to go to the top, so that was out.

The train ride back was AWFUL. We were about 40 minutes late leaving Chicago because the train was so full and the conductors kept yelling at people to sit down. There was NO place to sit. They kept threatening to put people off the train. There were a BUNCH of just-graduated recruits in my car. They were really nervous about getting back to base late. I promised them that NO ONE in a Navy uniform would be put out of THIS car except over my stone-cold dead body!!

On Saturday, Jamie, Cary (my youngest) and I went to Six Flags. We were waiting in line for a ride when I looked a Jamie and he was honest-to-God asleep...standing up. Not waivering, not swaying. Just asleep.

I said, "Son, are you sleeping?" And he said almost in a whisper, "Yes." I said, "Do we need to go home?" and he said, without ever opening his eyes, "No, I've had 15 seconds, I'm good for another 24 hours." It almost made me cry. To think of what he had endured to be able to say that!!

His dad, stepmom and brother were leaving early Sunday afternoon because they had to drive all the way back to Georgia so they picked Jamie up that morning and hung out with him. We all met for lunch so Jamie could come with his sister and me and they could start home. It was SO sad watching him say goodbye to his dad and stepmom.

I kept thinking that it wasn't fair. I was going to have to say my OWN goodbyes in just a few hours! Two in one day was too much. I started tearing up on the drive to Great Lakes when I was taking him back Sunday night. Standing in that parking lot having to say goodbye and watch him walk away was KILLING me! I felt like someone had pulled my heart out and was stomping on it. He, of course, was just chuckling at me.

I saw some of my N4M friends dropping off their kids and saying their goodbyes. THAT didn't help, either. Bottom line: I sobbed like a baby. I watched Jamie walk away from my car, meet up with some friends and never look back.

I couldn't have been happier and I couldn't have been more heart broken!

It was four GREAT days.