The Army. Sigh. They have a motto. No, not that motto, the unofficial one, the real one:
“Hurry up and wait.”
We did this Tuesday night (Frustration with a Freebie) and again Thursday night. The recruiter did everything in his power to get Keith’s enlistment to happen. He got the waiver, he got the MOS (ie, job), he got the fingerprints, everything. And then there was a hiccup with an old file. From before. Floating in the ethernet between servers & outer space. We waited. And waited. And waited.
It was a no go. Keith will enlist next week. He will be going into the job he wants. His sister (also a US Army Captain) will swear him in, and thanks to modern technology his parents will be there via Skype. It is not the answer any of us wanted but it was almost as good as a TaDA!
Wednesday night they all came to dinner, turns out it was National Margarita Day & Sarah knows how to make a perfect Margarita. I don’t think I’ve had a Margarita in eons. They are not common in Germany, let alone so, so very perfect. After two fabulous Margarita’s I decided I was brave enough to let Keith practice his craft & save me a trip to the doctor. He took out my stitches like a pro, and I felt no pain (If you have to have surgery…).
I repaid the kindness with my participation in the oh-so-frequent Hurry-Up-and-Wait exercise and by taking a family portrait on Thursday night, despite the frustration. Despite the one more delay. Keith may not have enlisted this week, but they were all together and nothing, nothing can beat that.
The non-enlistment family photo ❤
The Oath of Enlistment
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