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Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all that celebrate!!! This Easter and Passover season has been unlike any other that I have been around to experience. I love Cadbury eggs and all that jazz, but the holidays just aren’t the same in the era of social distancing. Nevertheless, we’re doing our part to flatten the curve and end this soon.

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The truth of the matter is family is what makes these holidays special. Since we can’t all be together, we FaceTimed my folks and Jake and called my grandma and my father in law. The nice part about FaceTiming my folks is seeing the snow they’re getting as I look out at our palm trees. I’d be a liar if I said I missed April snowstorms. Nope, I’ll stick to our nice Florida weather.

Our adventure of the day was heading down to Boca go pick up our Easter dinner at J Alexander’s. Their Easter dinner deals for carry out were unbelievable. I spent $65 for a 3lb prime rib, mashed potatoes, Caesar salad and carrot cake that feeds six. Oh and let’s not forget that the food tasted absolutely incredible!! We will definitely be going back for more dinners. I highly recommend you check them out for carry out.

This evening we got our regular FaceTime call from Jake, which was amazing. Anytime we get to see and hear our airmen is a happy day! Since we spent last Easter with Mel and her family, it only felt right that we call them too! We had a Easter party on FaceTime, so my Mayor could talk smack about their volleyball skills. Obviously, it was the best part of my day! I love talking to my boy and seeing his smiling face!! Especially since this is our first Easter without him. From our family to yours, we wish you a Happy Easter filled with love and light!

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Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

*Studied and practiced Norwegian

*Drove to Boca to pick up our Easter dinner

*Watched The Other Guys and National Lampoons Vacation

*Vacuumed and mopped the floors (again)

*FaceTimed grandma and grandpa and Jake and Mel

*Called my Grandma T and father in law to check in on them 

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

*Worked on Obedience Training with Anakin inside.

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Good Friday

Happy Good Friday!! The kid’s were off virtual school today meaning less stress for me. Cheers to a happy and stress free Good Friday. Since the boys didn’t have virtual school, I was able to sleep in a bit too, which was amazing.  It was nice to orchestrate my day around my schedule and not the kids.  That’s right folks we’ve had two good days in a row. Can you believe it? 
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Much like yesterday, I was pretty productive today. My morning started off with a great yoga class via Zoom with Monica. And of course, I have the pictures to prove it. Actually, the pictures are a great visualization of how far I’ve come and how much further I can go. Also I think it’s important to show yoga at its most accessible. Yoga has been instrumental in my quest for remission, so I’m eager to share my learnings.

After yoga, the Mayor, Maya and I headed to the vet to get her stitches removed. Admittedly, I was totally a proud dog mom when the vet tech was singing Maya’s praises and happy to see her doing so well. The appointment lasted about ten minutes. Afterwards, they brought her back to the car she was all smiles. No more cone or stitches for our girl.

Post vet appointment, I got my week seven day 5 resistance workout completed. My Friday workout is a full body workout. This week’s circuits were tough, but effective. My least favorite is the raised leg sit-ups and skipping rope. I’m not sure what happened between grade school and now, but I suck at skipping rope. Nevertheless, the skipping rope remains one of the most effective workouts even my disjointed effort.

The afternoon I spent with the puppies and my Mayor. I even baked another gluten free coffee cake, but it’s already gone. The hubby made us a wonderful butterflies chicken with yummy potatoes. It is definitely one of my favorite meals! Before dinner, Anakin had to spend some time in timeout after he jumped on the kitchen table. This dog loves his food!

Yesterday, as you may recall, was great. But would you believe it got even better when our Airman called home!?! Best day ever!!! It is so hard to be separated from him during this difficult times, so hearing his voice was awesome. He got his orders for his duty station and will head their immediately upon his completion of tech school. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to come home on leave due to COVID-19 before heading to his FDS. Finally, and most importantly, he’s doing great. He’s excelling at tech school and in the Air Force during challenging times in an already challenging environment. We could not be more proud!

Lastly, please join me in congratulating my parents on their 44th wedding anniversary!!!

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Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

*Studied and practiced Norwegian

*Watched Family Guy

*Watched Moana and Blazing Saddles as family

*Week 7 BBG full body resistance workout

*Gentle Flow with Monica from Yoga Mundo

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

*Worked on Obedience Training with Anakin inside.


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Sleepy Saturday

No surprise here, but it was another sleepy Saturday. Normally, Saturdays would be are craziest day of the week running errands and running from rink to rink. With the pandemic, all of that has come to an end. No longer are there frivolous errands to fill the day, which is probably a blessing since we’re spending a lot less money.

 

Fortunately, my puppies were more than happy to keep me company throughout this sleep Saturday. Anakin is now four months old, but still naps quite a bit. Thankfully, his big sisters are also ballers. All four of us spent a lot of the day chillaxing on the couch. We’ve been pretty lucky with all three dogs as they’re all calm and very sweet.

Actually, I did have a productive morning. I was able to clean out the laundry room and get some paperwork filed away. I’ll be finishing the laundry room and laundry tomorrow. Luckily, I had Anakin to help me find errant socks and dryer sheets. While I was cleaning at home, the hubby was looking at a job in Dade. Construction workers are considered essential in Florida, so thankfully he’s still able to work.

Initially, I had planned to make a supply run early this morning. However, I decided to wait until tomorrow since the Hubby had to drive to Miami for work. Thankfully, Terri and P.J. came to our rescue dropping off toilet paper and kleenexes. Thank you both! You guys are the real heroes! Since we weren’t going grocery shopping today, we decided we’d go to Home Depot to get plants for our garden.
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We used to keep a garden regularly B.H (aka before hockey,) but with work and hockey we didn’t have the time to maintain it. Now that we’re gone and there ‘s no hockey, it is the perfect time to re-do the garden. The Hubby made the Depot run while I watched the dogs. We had to pickup more wood build a new garden box. Sadly, the old garden box had started to rot and needed to be replaced.

Hubby and the Mayor spent the evening pulling weeds and the aloe out of the garden. Unfortunately, I struggle with allergies in our back yard because of the mango tree and various other plants. Consequently, while they worked I slaved away on my phone ordering takeout on Door Dash. By the time our food was delivered, the garden had started to take shape and was looking great. We need to pick up a couple more boards, but the garden should be done tomorrow. We’re planting tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, peas and a bunch of vegetables via seed. In the garden already is a rosemary bush and of course our pineapple plants.

Wish us luck as we venture out tomorrow morning to grab groceries and household supplies. I hate the thought of going out, but none of the delivery services have any openings. Afterwards, we’ll be working on finishing the garden and cleaning up the house. Fortunately, once the garden gets going, we’ll have a better and safer way to get our produce. I’ll also take the dogs for a walk during our street, so long as the weather cooperates. Now I’m off to relax and claim my rightful place as champion of this sleepy Saturday.

 

 

 

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*Reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

*Watched Family Guide

*Started to re-build our garden

*Completed BBG Rest Day week 6

*Home Depot run for plants and soil for our garden

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on a walk 

*Worked on Obedience Training with  Anakin 

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We Survived

We survived another week in isolation and the first week of virtual schooling. Both feats are amazing considered the amount of work it takes to cajole kids to get to their online classes timely. Teenagers are special – truly. Not since the toddler stages have I found parenting more vexing. Fortunately, I no longer have to change their diapers only deal with their tantrums and attitude.

I know this is stressful for them as it is for all of us, but come on man! Doing the dishes for ten minutes isn’t going to cut into your 24/7 free time to play video games or shoot pucks in the garage. Honestly, it’s not asking a lot just for them to help around the house. Additionally, the course work required of each of the boys, thus far, has been reasonable. Both have a virtual session a day, which is great because it gives them a chance to reconnect with their peers and a sense of normalcy. Bottom line they have plenty of time to help mom and dad.


The past couple of weeks have been a constant test of patience and today I felt like I was about to fail the test. Much of my morning was spent motivating, aka arguing with, Goalielocks to start and finish his homework before the 3:00 pm deadline. After asking him for the 900th time to bring his laptop downstairs to complete his work, I was ready to lose my mind.

And then it happened. Anakin, Maya and I came back in from a brief walk around the block. As I was bending down to switch the leach from Maya to Athena, Goalielocks released Anakin form his leash. Unfortunately, Anakin’ s leash was retractable and retracted from ten feet away directly into my shin splints. Oh joy! I totally lost my mind. I took his phone, grabbed my grocery bag to head to Publix.

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Now to be clear, we desperately needed milk and some other essentials. In fact, I’m still looking for toilet paper. If you’ve ever been to my Publix during snowbird season, you would know it’s not for the faint of heart on a normal day. During a pandemic or pre-hurricane, it’s usually super crazy. Nonetheless, it would bring me so much needed peace and serenity. Yep, that’s something I ever expected to write. I picked up some milk, fresh veggies, so gluten free baking mixes and Cadbury eggs.

I came home to Goalielocks diligently working on his coursework while watching Life of Brian on Netflix. If ever there was a perfect movie for today, that was it. Moreover, Always Look On the Bright Side of Life is exactly the song I needed to hear today. Fortunately, Monty Python was the perfect anecdote to my foul mood. Fortunately, the rest of my afternoon went significantly smoother than the morning and I was actually productive!

Now that we have one week of school of under the belts, I feel better about the boys being successful learning at home. Clearly, it’s going to take an enormous amount of patience and grace. Not only from me, but from my boys as well. Together we’ll make it though this stronger and more resilient than ever. Also, will probably be a lot more round after the quarantine fifteen. Thank you Cadbury, coffee cake, brownies and stress eating for that! Imagine by the end of this, the greatest stress in your life will be on your yoga pants.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*Reading To the Lighthouse by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched BBC’s production of The Moonstone episode 1 and 2

*Watched Life of Brian

*Completed BBG Full Body Workout week 6

*Ran virtual school for my two teenage boys

*Grocery run to Publix for essentials since all delivery services are booked 

*Baked a gluten free coffee cake

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on a walk 

*Worked on Obedience Training with  Anakin 

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Unbelievable Joke

Not only was March an unbelievable joke, it also lasted a century. Okay perhaps March didn’t last a century maybe just a decade. The pandemic, the isolation, the toilet paper run, and the insane people all on global scale made March 2020 a month we will all remember. Consequently, we find ourselves in a global crisis that promises to long disrupt life as we know it.

I know it seems daunting, but we have an infrangible spirit. Together with our family, friends and communities we will get through this period. Honestly, it was talking with my grandma that gave me the most hope. My grandma’s generation lived through both the depression and World War 2. They know all too well the sacrifices and fear that happen during a global crisis. Just like her generation, we too will make it through this and we will be changed. Hopefully, we will come through this kinder, more humble, less wasteful and more generous.

One thing that has become crystal clear is that our nation’s teachers are saints. I say this after two days of virtual school with my younger two boys. I spent my day repeatedly harassing my boys to complete their work. Truly, the whole experience is exhausting. Nonetheless, I’m grateful to our school district for enabling online learning during this time. As someone who spent ten years convincing people online education was viable, I’m thrilled to see online learning come to our country’s rescue. It’s truly phenomenal that the kids can continue learning and connecting with their classmates throughout this pandemic. These social connections are everything!

There are some positives to this experience. mean I guess the upshot of social distancing is the perfect excuse for an introverts night in or ghosting someone. Additionally, it’s given me an opportunity to slow down and reconnect with people. I’ve talked to more people on the phone over the last couple of weeks than I have in the last year. Importantly, I’ve made it a priority to check in on the grandparents. We cannot discount the loneliness and isolation many feel while we’re in lockdown. My grandma’s building has been locked down for weeks, so social interaction is at a minimum. Jake and I both try to call her regularly to make sure she’s ok.

 

Positive things we can do throughout the pandemic:

  • Spend quality time with our families
  • Reconnect with friends and family in meaningful and regular fashion
  • Find innovative ways to hang out with friends and family outside the home (i.e. Uno games via Zoom.)
  • Spend time creating a manageable workout routine
  • Learn a new skill or language (mine is teaching – it’s not going well.)
  • Become a Facebook expert on all things epidemiology, international relations and financial markets
  • Support the small business owners in your community by getting take out, buying produce boxes from local farms or taking virtual fitness classes from your favorite gym or teacher.
  • Be kind to yourself – this is a difficult season for everyone including you.
  • Treat others with grace – see the bullet above
  • Foster an animal from your local animal shelter.  I promise you that puppy kisses make everything better.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*Reading Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched The Office season 8

*BBG arms and abs week 6

*Run virtual school for my two teenage boys

*Took Anakin on a walk to see Goalielocks fishing 
*Worked on Obedience Training with  Anakin 

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First Day of Virtual School

Today was our first day of virtual school. As expected, it was a bumpy start to the day. Unsurprisingly, the bumpy start was fueled by arguments with teenagers over getting up early to be ready for school. To be fair, there was some conflicting advice as to when/how/where they needed to be today. Fortunately, all of this was clarified during the school day.

I was impressed that Palm Beach school’s servers and technology were up for the challenge. Comcast, on the other hand, was clearly not ready for the increase in internet usage. Frustratingly, we were without internet (and Hulu) did several hours this afternoon. In order to minimize conflict, Goalielocks used the PC up in his rom, while the Mayor used my MAC in our master. Crisis and conflict avoided!!! Lately, any victory no matter how small is worth celebrating.

While the boys got a jump on their school work, I was able to get in my run and a yoga class on Zoom. Unfortunately, the path is completely crowded, which makes Athena nervous. I have never seen so many pedestrians on the path! She stopped numerous times and pulled off to the side whenever a bike whizzed by us.  Ultimately, it made for a slower run, but that was fine with me as my legs were tired and sore from yesterday’s workout. At the end of the run, we logged 2.5 miles in the South Florida heat. Yoga was awesome. It was incredible being reunited with my Tuesday Noon crew. In fact, it almost felt like things were normal.

Today’s first foray into virtual learning felt a bit like managing zoo. Although I have to say my boy looked happy to be on Zoom with his classmates. Hopefully the social reconnection via their online meetings. It is going to take a lot of patience from all sides to make it work. Not that we really have a choice because this truly has to work. I don’t see how we can return to school this year at all.

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Since we had no WiFi this afternoon, I took the time to make the boys some homemade brownies. Fortunately, they are not gluten free, so I cannot eat them. As for dinner, we had plenty of leftovers from Lucille’s last night. We did take some time to get outside for a bit this evening since it had cooled down and the dogs needed a walks. In fact, Goalielocks had to go on a 30 minute walk for gym. Anakin was more than happy to oblige him.

To all the parents, who are working and assisting your kids with virtual school, best of luck. Remember brunch is seven days a week and you don’t even need an Uber to get to your couch. To all the teachers, you are amazing. Your job just changed in a completely revolutionary way. Your students miss you and your parents, at least most of them, have a new sense of respect for you! For my essential workers, the world would not spin without you. For those on the frontline of healthcare running short on supplies, thank you for continuing to care for our families and communities.

 

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*reading Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched The Office season 7

*2.5 mile run with Athena

*Yoga for a Strong Back and Gentle Flow – Open Heart Yoga studio, taught by Monica

*Supervised the boys for day 1 of virtual school

*cursed out Comcast while my WiFi was down for hours

*Baked homemade brownies

*took a quick walk with Athena and Maya this evening

*Called my parents reminded them they shouldn’t go to the store!

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What Day Is It Anyway?

This isolation thing has me wondering what day is it anyway? All the usual markers of my week are gone! How is one to distinguish Sunday from Monday with no Monday bus stop run! If there’s no yoga and I don’t go to my 4:00 pm class, is it even Wednesday? Honestly, I’m all over the place with my days. Frankly, I just lost my train of though as my mayor farted in my face. Only teenage boys tell their parents goodnight in this fashion.

Time is blending together as the isolation wears on. I’d hardly know it was a new day if I didn’t get my morning coffee. Admittedly, the Sweat App does help as I do my resistance workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are for running. Although tomorrow, which I’m told is Saturday, I’m going to run three miles.

This week we passed our time with some Disney movies and the Tiger King. Wow! If ever there was a show that could make you feel better about yourself whole making you terrified for society, this is it! I’ve never seen more of a train wreck before and I’ve lived in Florida for nearly fifteen years. From beginning to end, the Tiger King was a wild ride in insanity. I’m not neither Team Joe Exotic or Team Carol as I think they’re both terrible. I did, however, learn (thank you Carol) that is you want a big cat to eat something it shouldn’t put sardine oil on it…. Why would you even know that?!!! Oh wait…..
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This evening we started watching The Office again. It made me miss Jake and Mel, so I had to text them that. Coincidentally, they were watching The Office season 1 together via FaceTime. Clearly, great minds think alike. Every time I watch this show, I love it more. It’s the perfect television binge for a pandemic.
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While we binged on Netflix, our Maya stayed by our side on the couch. Her incision site is healing well. More importantly, she is returning to her normal self. She has a good energy, a happier disposition and a healthy appetite. In addition, she even tried to play with Athena and Anakin today. We’re very happy with the progress she’s made over the last twenty four hours. We’re praying that her biopsy results show nothing nefarious.

I thought it might be fun to catalog what I’ve learned during our time in isolation.  Here’s what I learned this week:

  • Skipping rope is a lot harder than I remember it being.
  • I suck at skipping rope
  • Sardine oil makes big cats hungry
  • Not all hard seltzers are created equally
  • It is possible to make a yummy gluten free cake at home.  Thank you Krusteaz!
  • My runs are getting faster!
  • Connections via technology are great, but they’re no replacement for the original.  
  • Becky Sharp is one of my least favorite characters in literature. 
  • It’s scary to drop off your pet for surgery. 
  • I should not partake in more than 2-4 margaritas in a night.
  • I now understand how my parents felt when they told teenage me not to go out, but I went out anyway.
  • A college degree isn’t necessary to be an expert in a given field.  A Facebook page, however, will make you an expert in everything.

What have you learned during this pandemic? I hope your list isn’t empty as there will be a quiz when this is all over.

 

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Friday Update

Here’s my Friday update:  I’m still emotionally exhausted.  Just kidding today I’m both physically and emotionally exhausted.  Probably because I made my workout commitments every day this week!  Go me!!!  Excitedly, I started my day by vacuuming and moping my floors for the third time this week.  The upshot, of course, was that the house smelled great for a couple of hours.  Such is life with three dogs and a house full of boys.

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The lesson I’ve learned this week is that home schooling my kids even with a remote  teacher is soul crushingly difficult.  Honestly, I don’t know is you amazing teachers do it day in and day out.  Kudos to you for being super human.  Only my high schooler has work to do this week since he’s taking a few classes online.  I can only imagine the fun I’ll have when both are back in school virtually.

Goalielocks did get some practice driving today when he drove up route Clubhouse to take my Mayor to the pool.  Before you judge, I’ll have none of it.  There was nobody else there and they weren’t there for long.  Afterwards they had some social distancing with some buddies, who they went fishing with behind the house.

Thankfully, we live in South Florida and the weather has been perfect.  Naturally, the boys could have stayed out fishing all night.  Especially since the bass were biting today.  Fortunately, all the boys fishing caught some nice sized bass, which makes for some happy boys.   I loved seeing the boys outside fishing and not on their phones.  Consequently, we may take them to the Everglades tomorrow to fish and walk the trails.  It will be good get out of the house and into nature.

Meanwhile, hubby is starting to get concerned that we may run out of toilet paper before the stores replenish their stock.  I tried to order some on BJ’s.com, but received a message that supplies were running low.  Consequently, they wanted me to approve the replacement they suggest.  The replacement they suggested was a box of printer paper. Yeah….  Wish us luck on that front.  Finally, we will actually be taking our Christmas tree down tomorrow.  Although I’m pretty sure Anakin would prefer that we leave it up.  However, I have to admit I am sick of cleaning up the falling needles.

As for our day, here were our activities:

*reading Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery

*Watched Ratatouille with my Mayor

*yelled at Goalielocks to take his algebra test, he finally did and got an A.

*Completed BBG Week 5 Full Body workout

*Took Goalielocks to practice driving

*Bought myself some new running shoes, will get them up at drive up/pick up at Dick’s SportingGoods

*Boys went fishing with their hockey buddies while maintaining proper distances.

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Emotionally Exhausted

It’s only day four of the social distancing/isolation and I’m completely and utterly emotionally exhausted.  Admittedly, I could never be a teacher.  My boys are giving me a run for a money, the thought corralling of a classroom of teenagers is enough to trigger a panic attack.  Frustratingly, I find that much of my day is spent arguing and negotiating with terrorists,  I mean teenagers.  I can’t my imagine it will be worse when both are back in school virtually.

Of course negotiating with my teenage boys all day, is a walk in a park when compared to missing my airman.  I know he’s well taken care of and that the military is taking a lot of precautions to keep him safe and healthy.  Nevertheless, it’s completely unnerving to experience this pandemic with one of my boys out of the house.  Sadly, the worst part is that we now don’t know when we’ll be able to visit him.  We had planned to go up the first week in April, but that will no longer happen.

I almost feel bad complaining as there are many military families and trainees that have it far worse.  We were lucky to be able to see Jake graduate BMT and to experience the amazing feeling that is that first tap out after 8.5 weeks apart.   Sadly, all BMT graduations have been closed to families and changed greatly.  I can’t even imagine not being able to have seen my airman graduate.  My heart would be broken.

Life as we know it has been altered, but it hasn’t stopped.  The sacrifices that we’re being asked to make pale in comparison to the sacrifice our healthcare workers, public servants, our military, the truck drivers making sure our stores are restocked and the folks working those stores.  While I may be emotionally exhausted, I’m sure these workers are being pushed to their physical and mental edge.  So for all who cannot stop working because you’re supporting our community, we thank you!

As for our day, here were our activities:

*reading Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery

*Conference call with my mentor and fellow marketing executive.  Success here we come!

*yelled at the Mayor to stop playing with frisbee in the house

*yelled at Goalielocks to stop practicing his golf shot in the house and against the house

* 2 mile run with Athena

*1.5 mile walk with my boys and puppies

*Deep Stretch – Total Body Yoga– Yoga with Adrienne

*Watched Miracle because we’re missing hockey followed Cars 2 and 3

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Post Grad Let Down

Since we’ve been back from San Antonio, I’ve been experiencing somewhat of a post grad let down.  After eight weeks of hyper focus on Jake’s progress through BMT and regular updates from my Facebook support groups those days are over.  There isn’t a daily support group for Tech School like there is for BMT.  Fortunately, there is a base group, which I found to be quite helpful.  Tech school is a much different journey than BMT and is more individualized.

As for graduation weekend, it was the most incredible weekend of my life.  The first day began super early with the Airmen’s run.  I know I wrote it about it before, but it was just so cool that I had to mention it again.  I loved seeing Jake running with his flight and singing the Jodies as he jogged. Being on base was just as cool.  Lackland is ginourmous! (Is that even a word?). Afterwards, we watched him become an airman during the coin ceremony.  Before the beginning, there were fight jets and cargo planes taking off and flying over the base, which was wicked cool.

On Friday, we watched the Airman’s Parade, which is when the training squadrons pass by command in formation to be reviewed.  It was such a neat event.  Unfortunately, it was super cold and windy, so we were a bit uncomfortable as the wind whipped against our backs.  Fortunately, for Jake the wind was not as bad on the actual field.  I absolutely loved the parade, in spite of the cold, and was so proud watching my new airman and his wingman on the parade field.

The whole weekend everyone was nice.  Everywhere we went people were nice and happy.  It’s crazy when you think about how much time you spend in line, traffic, how crowded the base was and the tight timelines you’re dealing with.   Amazingly, the happiness and pride that comes with seeing your Airman again and watching them graduate BMT, seems to put everyone in a permanently positive mood.  Even when my hubby purposely took up two parking spots in order to ensure my brother would get a spot, nobody batted an eye.  The only comment was on how smart he was for parking that way.  It is such a unique and uplifting experience!

The first time I saw my Airman’s graduation picture, I cried with pride and joy.  He looks so grown up and confident.  Seeing him in uniform all weekend was incredible.   The transformation he underwent in the 8.5 weeks at Lackland was absolutely amazing.  He left us nervous and anxious.  When we got him back for the weekend, he was happy, confident, self assured, decisive and disciplined.  Thankfully, he made a lot of friends on his BMT journey that will be his friends for life.  I loved seeing him interact with his wingmen.   Knowing and personally witnessing that he is where he belongs was beyond comforting to my hubby and I.

Of course the best part of the weekend was spending time with my Airman and our family.  His girlfriend M travelled with us for the weekend.  Can I tell you how much we enjoyed our time together?  Can I tell you how much I loved seeing my son and his girlfriend together?  Seeing their love and support for each other through the weekend was the stuff mother’s dream about.  I love them together!

Our time off base was well spent hanging out with the grandparents, Uncle Jon and Aunt Brandi and of course J&M2 (my nickname for Jake and his girlfriend- they’re J&M2 because my bro and sister in law are the original J&M.). We played Phase10, Uno, took a trip to the Alamo.  It is small, but the grounds are beautiful.  Friday night we had a wonderful lunch/dinner on Riverwalk.  Everyone was so nice!  They treated Jake like a king!  People were constantly thanking and recognizing Jake for his service and commitment to our country.  Saturday’s food was the ultimate in “everything is bigger in Texas” maxim.  We had a 3 pound cinnamon roll and an 37 inch diameter pizza.  Both were as tasty as they were large.  I’ll write more about that in a future post dedicated to why you should visit San Antonio.  I loved San Antonio!

Nonetheless,  grad week is over and the adrenaline is gone.  I loved my weekend so much and the tap out of my airman was priceless.  There is a lot of worry when your child is in BMT because there’s minimal contact.  That first time you see and speak to them after BMT is magical.  Now he’s in Tech School and there’s still a lot of worry, but also relief in being able to speak with him regularly.  So well I may be suffering from the post grad let down, I am beyond proud of my son and happy that he has found his place in the greatest Air Force this world has ever known.   We are so proud to be Air Force parents!

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