My house is incredibly quiet. I live in the heart my house. The center. The middle room, on the middle floor. My office/bedroom (bedice? offroom?) is off the mainhallway, where the upstairs & downstairs converge. With my door open I can hear all the going ons throughout the house, and it is quiet.
Manda & Mike left early this week, and now Nicholas has left home too. Nick who’s only been home three months has flown the coupe once again. This time as a soldier. I am beyond proud of him. It’s hard to get knocked down, get back up, and do it again.
Nick has always marched to the beat of his own drummer. He’s always done things the hard way. When they were little, I taught all my kids to ride a bike. I held them up, ran next to them holding the seat, slowly letting go till they were confident enough to pedal away on their own. Except Nick. Nick was doing it by himself. It took longer, but he did it! And so he’s done it his whole life. On his own. The hard way. The long way.
Nick came home after losing his job in Roswell, NM. A town not known for a million job opportunities, and indeed Nick had a hard time finding a new one. Alburqueque beckoned, but a move requires money. Instead he came home. Who wouldn’t if home is Germany? We welcomed him with open arms, listening ears and words of advice. He took his Dad’s. He enlisted. We are once again an Army family. I’m an Army mom.
I am thrilled for Nick! Army brats like to play Army. My kids are no exception. They ran around in mini fatigues, wooden guns, playing Army, from the time they could run. If you asked any of them what they wanted to be when they grew up, they always said:
“I want to be an Army guy!” And now Nick is an Army guy. He is at boot camp for the next 9 weeks, followed by AIT (job training) for 27 weeks. He has his dream MOS (job), networking, and his future looks bright. He left at oh:dark:thirty Wednesday morning. Confident. Shining. Happy.
We are Army. Our blood runs OD green (O – olive, D – drab). Hooah!
Nick taking his oath of enlistment
Our friend Laura swearing Nick in
The Oath of Enlistment
Dave & Nick, my two soldiers ❤
A long tradition of serving our country
Dave, me, Nick & Dane
One last hurrah! Westberry’s & Laura & Jay
Schnitzel Heaven!
Best of luck to Nick, I know he will do well, love the family photos too! Hugs & I hope you are on the mend.
I thank him for his future service. God Bless him and keep him safe.
[…] Cole is on his way to the states. He is off to bootcamp even before Nick has graduated from his (The Hard Way). I now have a Marine (Christian), and two Soldiers. I am a blue star […]