Over
the past week I have learned something about myself. I do not do well when
waiting.
The
way Mark and I have it figured out, Patrick should have written his letter
Sunday. His boot camp is located in Parris Island, South Carolina; surely the
letter should be here today. Although, Mark calmly tells me it will most likely
arrive tomorrow or Thursday - this from the man who white knuckled the steering
wheel due to a red light. (See Blog: 19 Seconds). I try to constructively
whittle away the hours, but really, because of my sling there is just so many tasks I can perform one handed.
When
Patrick took his oath for the Delayed Entry Program, (DEP), Mark and I received
a parents packet. There was a Marine Corps brochure and a DVD. The DVD
provided information specifically geared to parents. There
was some boot camp information, but it was lightly covered. Patrick was given
information and a DVD as well. His DVD provides us with a better look of what he would be going through during each week of boot camp. This DVD has clips of
actual recruits at different intervals of boot camp training.
In Patrick's DVD there is a scene of a Drill Instructor, (DI) yelling at a
recruit. Although, there are a lot of scenes of DI's yelling at recruits. In this scene,
the DI holds up an envelope, yelling, "How about you write this so the
person receiving it can read what you've written instead of this chicken
scrawl?" The recruit answers, "Aye sir!"
Every
time I view that clip, I see Patrick. Patrick's hand writing is atrocious. I
pray that the DI's won't have Patrick redo our letter until it is legible - if
they do, I'll be waiting a long time!
Teresita, some kids are not good at texting or writing or telephoning. I would be waiting a while too with my kids. Our young people are so used to instant communication and letter writing is time consuming. Patrick will get to it, but perhaps his time frame and yours are not the same.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that you are holding on to your sense of humor, this is a good thing to do when faced with so many challenges. By now you have probably received your precious letter and I know in my heart that all is well. XO
ReplyDeleteYes! Received Patrick's first written by him letter yesterday! Although, unfortunately the day he wrote his letter, (Sunday), he had not received any letters from family and friends! I do feel better knowing that by the time I received his one letter he had most likely received two out of my four letters I have sent him...there's only so much a mom can clean with her arm in a sling. Time is a plenty these days!
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