March 22, 2008

[Miriam]

I am officially an A school mom now. David graduated yesterday. It was beautiful and emotional and exhilirating and everything good all rolled up into one. Here's a recap of my day. We arrived at RTC at 5:30am and were told we were too early so we drove around a bit and when we came back at 6am there was a line of cars outside already. We probably had about 10 cars ahead of us. We drove in, got our IDs checked and proceeded to park. Since my dad is handicap, we were told to park in a different area (right next to the graduation hall). We were the first ones to walk in. I can't even explain how amazing it was to walk in and see the place I have seen at least 100 times before on YouTube or on various websites. I had purchased yellow shirts for the entire family and had designed an iron-on that says "We're proud to be a Navy family" on the front and then who we are in the family (mom, dad, sister, grandma, grandpa) on the back. The band played, the color guard was awesome and then finally our boys/girls came in. It was so emotional. When my son walked by, I could tell he was holding his tears. I wasn't, nor was the rest of my family. We took lots of pictures and video. I'll be downloading that as soon as I figure it out. For now, all I have are pictures.
Here's the sign outside the gate where all the cars were lining up:

My parents (grandma and grandpa) at the graduation wearing the yellow shirts I made for the family.

David and I after graduation. Now I have to add here that it started snowing (heavily) during graduation. When we came out, we had to walk across to another building where we waited for him to get settled across the street in A School. This walk over was challenging, especially for my dad who's on a wheelchair, but we made it.

I'm happy to say that because our David moved to A School right after graduation, we can have him until Sunday night. Last night he slept in the room with us and it was so cute to watch him get his clothes ready for today. He ironed his shirt and pants. He taught us how to fold clothes. It was amazing to see what the Navy has accomplished with our son. We are definitely impressed.

Well, got to go..... we are going to the city for the day....

[Jason's mom]

Congrats to your son and you too, you are "officially" a Navy Mom!!! My son has been in the Navy nearly 2 years. I remember boot camp graduation as if it were yesterday and enjoy reading about other families experiences at Great Lakes. I'm sorry the weather wasn't better for you. Jason graduated in September and it was windy but warm. Hope you enjoyed Chicago! I know we did and would love to go back! Best of luck to David! Happy Easter to you and you family!

Yvette

[Tmama]

Congrats! Thanks so much for taking the time while you are there to update us! It some how makes us feel closer to our own son. Seeing your photos, I am sitting at my pc weeping. How cool is this all? So very hard to explain to anyone not going through it. Praying that our son gets to spend the night off base as well. How did you plan? We have reservations near by at Red Roof for Thursday night, so that we can be there early on Friday...but are unsure where to make reservations for Friday and Saturday. When did you find out that you would have him for the whole weekend? Thanks for sharing, and please tell us more when you have time!! handsome son you have!

[Sheila or Justin's mom]

congratulations Miriam.....i had chills reading your story and it makes me so sad because my son is a grad n go...so i wont be able to have him but maybe 15 minutes or so... :( but im so proud of your son ....enjoy everything and please update when u get back....take care...