July 8

Jamie moved "across the street" today to Naval Station Great Lakes for 19 weeks of A school.

The way I count it, 19 weeks from now is the end of November or the beginning of December. I am hoping he gets leave and can come home for a while after A school, but I'm learning that what I hope for and what the Navy does are not necessarily the same thing! I remember his recruiter saying something about if Jamie spends time with him (the recruiter), those days won't count against his leave time. I'll have to call him and ask him about this.

It looks like I'm going to have a late birthday (Nov. 18), late Thanksgiving and early Christmas this year depending on when Jamie can be here. But that's OK. Fortunately there are no little people in our house who might wonder why Santa Claus came on Dec. 5th or 9th or 16th or whatever...

But the BEST thing about A school is that I can talk to him whenever I want to. Not really, but certainly closer to whenever I want to that when he was in bootcamp. Unlike most recruits, Jamie's division only got ONE phone call (other than the 30-second-hi-I'm-here-I-love-you-gotta-go call that first day). That came on his 3-1 day. I didn't hear his voice again until after BattleStations.

He's already making lists of civilian clothes that he wants me to send (personally, I think they're all going to be too big for him now: he's lost a BUNCH of weight, gained a BUNCH of muscle and doesn't wear his pants around his @$$ anymore!).

I don't really understand what he's doing in A school, some kind of machinist something-or-other, but that's OK. I don't really have to understand it. He seems to be happy with it and that's all that matters.

It's a good day.