"This is Recruit Patin! I have arrived safely at Parris Island! Please do not send any food or bulky items to me in the mail! I will contact you in 3 to 5 days by postcard with my new address! Thank you for your support and goodbye for now!"
I heard all the noise in the background. His voice sounded like a mixture of exhaustion, excitement and nervousness. I can't imagine how he must be feeling. He is actually doing this.
As soon as I heard the 'click' I started crying. I miss him. And it's just starting.
It's just so crazy. We've spent the months that he's been preparing reading about and watching movies and TV shows about Boot Camp. And now he is there. He is going to thrive at Boot Camp. It's hard to grasp that this is all really happening after all of these months.
Soon after we confirmed that I was pregnant with Josie, Beau got laid off from his job as a cabinet builder. This kind of put us into a panic mode. This had us consider him joining the military. Job security. Serving our country. Benefits. Big lifestyle change.
And so we talked about it some. We talked to my dad about it. He was a good source of information. He retired from the Army. We decided to go for it. We were naively thinking that it would be hard to go through this pregnancy while he was training for whatever branch he chose.
The branch he chose was the United States Marine Corps. We went to the recruiter. He was shot down quite quickly. He had many things against him. His education consisted of a GED. He has a wife and a dependent child, and one on the way. The only way he could enlist was by gaining 15 college credits.
The Army told him the same thing.
And so he enrolled at Louisiana State University -Eunice. While he was in school, we did a bunch of internet research about life in the military and boot camp and different aspects of the Marine Corps.
After he finished his semester at LSUE, he was able to get started with enlisting. He went through so much with an inexperienced recruiter, messed up paper work, trips to New Orleans to MEPS, getting waivers for his back ground and dependents.
He lost weight like crazy, worked out and ran and got into tiptop physical condition. The Marine Corps would have been crazy not to take him as one of their own.
And they realized it finally. Because he is there. And not here.
It's so hard doing this with a new baby and a toddler who is testing my limits more and more everyday.
I keep asking myself, how will I know if I am crying because I miss him or if I'm crying because I am suffering from Postpartum Depression. Time will tell, I guess.
I can't wait for my postcard.
