The Cyber Sisterhood

Sarah, I'm so sorry to hear about all of this heartache going on over your dog. What a shame that is. Pets are like people to those who love them. I hope and pray this situation will cool off for you so that you can look forward to your move in a more positive way.

Arwen, I'm praying for Chris and for you too. Please keep us posted. These Navy training programs are not easy to say the least. Our son's program is getting tough, tough, tough now too. He said they have a big test on Monday, and that a lot of them would be studying over the weekend. All of the talk about how hard that program is is now becoming a reality. Praying for all of them.

I hope everyone has a good Mother's Day or as good as possible with so many loved ones away. Our son called on Friday and that was a nice surprise. I told him how much I miss him and he so sweetly and sincerely said, "I'm sorry, Mom". Our kids fully understand what it means to miss someone because of the experiences of homesickness which they had in Boot Camp.

God bless all of you and don't forget: "Those Who Wait also Serve"

Yes, Colleen. We are so proud of them, although mssing them something awful.
"Those Who Wait also Serve".....my favorite saying now.
Happy Mother's Day and a safe and blessed week to our Sailors and their families.
Hugs to all of you!

Congrats Mel!!!

Pam, I'm sure he wanted badly to go far away for an adventure, to be stationed "home" must be frustrating.However, Bethesda is legendary as a medical facility. He can learn so much from some of the top medical personnel in the world, then go anywhere. I think this assignment may have been some kind of reward. Only, since he didn't see it this way, it feels like a slap in the face.

Chris officially failed out of IT school today. His grades were fine but he was too far behind. Slow and steady doesn't always finish the race. =~(

Now there are two possibilities. If there are any schools with openings that his ASVAB scores fit, he may be assigned to another school. If there are no school openings, he will go to the fleet undes.

Chris is pretty down on himself right now. Very upset. He is downright terrified they'll put him in a non-technical type rate. He HATES doing physical work that doesn't require technical skill and knowledge.

I'm sorry to hear about Chris. I believe as Donna said, that this might not have been the right thing for him. This is one of those times when we have to keep the faith. You know how many times I say that God knows what's better for us than we do, and I've always seen his plan end up working out much, much better than our plans for ourselves. I know at the moment of having a door closed, it is terribly hard to believe it. We're all human, and disappointments can be tremendously difficult for us. Our hearts and prayers are with Chris and with you as he tries to accept this adjustment and change. Let's see how it goes. People always say to "stay positive" but when we have these moments in life it is hard to stay positive. We naturally feel a lot of emotions and we don't understand why this has happened. "Time" is the best healer and he will adjust and his spirits will pick back up and so will yours and hopefully it will be very soon. In the meantime, our mother hearts feel your pain. Let's at least be thankful that he's safe. That's our number one request from God as all of them could potentially be put in harm's way and that's our greatest concern for them.
God bless you, Arwen.

I feel like a yo-yo. Chris must feel worse.

Chris is still in school, and catching up. Today he was told to go to class as usual. If he manages to catch up before the paperwork to kick him out of school is complete, he gets to stay, they said. So he's working his hiney off, taking two sessions per day instead of the usual one. He finished eight mods today (the most he has finished is four) and is now in the same section as the others in his class. He says the instructors think he can do it.

Talk about a roller-coaster ride. Poor Chris was in tears on Tuesday, today he was jazzed. If they kick him out after giving him so much hope again, it might break him. This is cruel and unusual.

Partying, drinking and sex is what some sailors think they're getting when they join the Navy, so there is always an element of that, even if it has to be created by the new sailors themselves. Mostly they are guys who did that kind of thing in high school and would do it in college and think liquor is necessary to have any fun. I've never understood the attraction of getting falling-down-drunk and waking up with a horrid hangover and have to stand watch in misery, but some of my friends were that way.

As a non-drinker I often watched my friends, both in high school and in the Navy, do this stuff. They loved me because I was the permanent designated driver. I was the one who remembered what they actually did and got to hold that information over their heads, who got them home when they couldn't remember which way home/the ship was.

The Navy has been working hard to end the culture of binge drinking, but it's something that high schools and colleges are struggling with also, and the problem is following those young sailors into the Navy. Sailors have historically been a hard-drinking bunch, but the extremes of binge drinking have been reinvented in the last few decades.

Sailors also tend to do all things to the extreme. They work hard, play hard, and often fall hard. One of Chris' problems is an addiction to video games and movies. The moment he's out of class he's either joining a bunch of guys to play video games or at the Liberty Center watching movies all day long. It seems like a relatively harmless addiction, but it's causing him problems with school, as you have seen. He loses track of time and gets to bed only a few hours before he's due for muster in the morning. It is difficult to get decent work done in school on three hour's sleep. In the last few weeks he's getting this under control, but it sure got him in trouble while he was learning.

Cussing, well, that's another thing entirely. Cussing really is a cultural thing in the Navy, no matter how much the brass tries to change it. Many sailors try to keep their language free of cuss words, but it's like living in a place with an accent. Stay there long enough and you start to pick up the accent, no matter how hard you try not to. You don't even notice when it happens. It's worse with some than others. It's been 20 years and I'm still trying to get rid of my Navy "accent."

Hi everyone.....one more week of school. :-) Sarah...I just read your posts about Bella. :-( I hope it works out for you. I'm with everyone else. Take your doggy with you. Hope you are on your way with your baby. By the way, drawing boundaries and making hard choices doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't always feel good to make hard choices - but that doesn't mean its bad - just hard.

Arwen- WOW!!! Hope Chris gets through intact. I'm glad he is learning the lessons about priorities and timing - that one gets college kids in trouble a lot!!

Arwen - I loved the "Navy accent" bit :-) Phillip is getting a navy accent :-( grrr....he slips and apologizes, then slips again. I'm sort of used to it - my hubby is law enforcement and there is a very similar law enforcement accent. When my tender ears were shocked when we started dating he said "Well, Beverly - with these criminals you can't really say "Sir, pretty please put these cuffs on your hands so I can escort you to jail". He then demonstrated the way you say "pretty please" in law enforcement-ize - I have NEVER forgotten it.

BTW - the only Spanish I remember from high school and college is Kiss my, uh, grits - barely remember anything else from four years of foreign language class - but I sure remember that!!!

Hi Carol (Proud Parents) Where do you live? I'm from GA. My son is in Nuke School in Charleston, SC. He will hopefully fly home for a visit the Memorial Day weekend. :-) Nuke School is nearly 2 years long so.....He'll be there awhile. He has a MAJOR test tomorrow. Prayers please! :-)

Wow last week was long. After a long talk with Shawn and considering our options, it was a very stressful week. As much as it hurts, we are not taking Bella with us. She really is like my baby, but I realized that I was being selfish in taking her. Plus she is not very good with cats or children and seeing as we are thinking about both in the next year or so it would only be more stress. I also didn't my parents to hold it against me, as I know they would, for taking her and if anything happened to "their" dog. We are 14th on the housing list so hopefully we can get a house quickly so we can get the kitten that we want to adopt and then shortly after get a puppy that is fully ours and kids will just have to follow at some point. The packers came Tuesday and we leave this Tuesday morning with a stop in NC on the way. I am so ready to just get up there and start our own lives together without family in the way. I hope everyone had a good weekend!!

Oh and Shawn got his promotion to E-4!

Cynthia, what is Mike's rating again?

Cyn, my BIL is stationed on the George Washington. He loves Japan and is trying to get a 2nd tour there.

Hey Ladies~ Hope all is well.
soccercyn~ Congrats to your son. It has to be bittersweet for you.
Sarah~ I have been following the posts on your situation. I know how you feel...I have three dogs of my own. They now out number humans in the household.
Slimsam~ How are you doing Girl:)?
Arwen~ So glad Chris is doing better. I'm pulling for him. :)
Mel~Miss ya luv;) Are you going to be around end of June? I am hoping Ed is able to get leave. I just MISS him soo very much! Having one of those days.
ProudParents~ It's great that your son will be in the same state as you. I'm hoping that Ed eventually ends up in San Diego. I can at least dream. lol.

Until recently I was so concerned about Chris' orders. Now all I care about is him staying in A school through graduation.

Chris finally has something solid to go on. He is on Mod 70 (he thinks), and has to be to mod 103 by Tuesday, May 25. If he is not to that point by that date the CO will sign the papers that will put him out of IT school, to be redesignated to another school or sent undes. But if he manages to catch up, the papers will be withdrawn (and I bet held to use again if he screws up).

Chris did 8 mods Thursday, 13 mods Friday, and 8 mods today (Monday). If he keeps this up, he should make Mod 103 by this Friday. IF he doesn't run into one of the more difficult mods along the way.

I'm thrilled that they actually (finally) drew a solid line, a tangible goal for which Chris can strive. Everything has been so nebulous until today, threats and encouragement, but nothing solid to work for.

If he passes Mod 103 by Tuesday, then it's only 10 days to graduation on June 4. But the real celebration, in this house, will be the day he finishes Mod 103 (as long as it happens before next Tuesday!)

Well we hit the road an hour ago but had to stop to use the bathroom. I will let u all know when we make it to greenville for the night.

Srry meant greenboro

We made it in one piece. Tomorrow will be the rest of the trip, but tonight is us enjoying the fact that we have been married for 10 months today.

Hi everyone! Looks like there's a lot going on around here!
Go Chris!!
So exciting, Soccercyn..Japan! What an incredible experience for him! I can imagine putting him on the plane was extremely difficult. But it will be a fabulous experience for him. Will you possibly go to see him?!

Still catching up.

Painfully missing sons today. Just one of those days. Our Navy son is very homesick and the other one is doing his best to complete the HUGE ruck march and sleeping in the woods all week for the end of Army basic training. He has some injuries, including an injured knee during this. He also broke his nose last week when he had to jump out of the way of something and hit his nose on the end of his weapon. Geez. What a week for both. It's probably hurting mom and dad more than it's hurting them, but I know they know how much we love them both and are praying for them. God bless our troops.

"Those Who Wait also Serve"

You're an angel, slimsam. We all know the same pain and we all have to endure sometimes.
God bless you and that hug you gave me with your kind words is helping, Thank you.

What we believe will happen is that we will be at his graduation next month. Then this summer he has Airborne School and following that he'll go to his first duty station. Sometime before too long we expect for him to possibly have some leave. He and our Navy son would very much like to see each other, but when it will be possible for that to happen is uncertain at this point. Maybe someway, somehow it can be arranged for them to see each other sometime this summer. However, as you know anything can change at the drop of a dime!

How did I do in explaining all of that using OPSEC?! I bet you understood it quite well too! So to answer your question...yes, soon we will see him. Both of them! : )

Hi to all! It’s been a while since I was on here. Congrats Mel. I was gone for a few weeks training and have been busy since I got back. Got home today to a moving van in front of the house. Stephanie, kids, dog and cat leave in the early morning for Groton CT. I am really going to miss Mason. He is at that age where he wants to do everything and is always following me or Grandma around. And Sarah I know how you feel. I have grown attached to their dog as she has to me. I look forward to Mason and Heidi greeting me at the door each day when I get home from work. She is by my feet as I type this. Brian passed BESS last month and now is in another class. He has this one and one other class before his A school. He will be in Groton till some time next year.

Hey everyone. So we had a meeting with housing today and out of the 2 choices they gave us, we took the 3 bdrm. It was way better then the 2 bdrm and we plan on having kids at some point and pets soon. We sign the lease on Wednesday. Oh and we also put in papers to adopt a 7 month old kitten who will make it feel more like home. In the last 2 days, I have seen more of DC to know that traffic is worse in Atlanta. I hope everyone is having a good week!

Good luck, Sarah(BooBoo) it all sounds very exciting and like a lot of fun!
This is for all of you and your heroes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL-0mdEg0U4&feature=related

Half of Chris' class has orders now. Chris is of the half that does not. Hopefully he'll learn something this week. He says his class is all over the place: Alaska, Washington DC, Antarctica, even Oregon (one got assigned to the Portland MEPS station, poor guy). So far they are *all* shore duty.

It's official, I'm on the hunt for a new job.I've run out of "growing room" at my current paper (no room to move up, down or even sideways) and I need new horizons. If anyone knows of a small-to-medium size northern/coastal daily newspaper that's looking for a jack-of-all-trades reporter who has a disgusting amount of knowledge about the Navy, let me know.

Hi guys!! It was a busy week last week.....last week of school - which included a standardized testing re-test, 5th grade graduation for my youngest, 8th grade graduation for my students and most of us on the 8th grade hall have new room assignments so we were moving classrooms. My in-laws have been here since Monday - but are leaving today. :-( So, I haven't been online - plus I have to share the computer with my youngest. :-) She'll be in the 6th grade at the middle school that I work at next year - which will be nice.

Arwen - are you working at your current paper until you find your new "nest"?

Phillip passed his big test last week, and has put in a request for leave for this weekend - if its approved he'll fly in Fri nite :-)

Cyn - prayers for you as you start a new phase with your son.

Navy/Army - hope your son heals up - can't imagine going through a grueling week with a couple of injuries.

Boy do I miss my shadows. No Mason helping with the yard work dragging grandpa’s hose watering. No Heidi in my lap at night. It’s sure been quiet here at home. They left home early Friday morning and hit snow after Salt Lake city Saturday morning. I did get to hear Mason say “hi grandpa” last night. I will be glad when they reach Groton and will not have to worry any longer about them making their trip across the country. Well today we get to see all the other grand kids this afternoon for James’s birthday.

Bev, I'm definitely not leaving my current job until I get a new one. The US job market is iffy enough, the journalism job market is positively terrifying. Going even a month without a paycheck would be disastrous.

Arwen - I'm glad you aren't leaving your current job yet.....sort of worried me when you wrote "well, its official....." - I knew you were a LEVEL-HEADED brain-iac :-)

((((Scott)))) sorry you are missing your grandbabies and furry grandbaby... :-( Let us know when they get to Groton so their Navy Aunties aren't worrying too. How was the birthday gathering? SNOW?????? Yikes it has been in the 90's in south GA and one day this week the bank temp. showed 100 degrees!

So it's official...we have a 7 month old kitty all to ourselves! We won't get her until Wednesday because we don't move into our house until then and the humane society is holding her for us. We are very lucky that they agreed to hold her because they rarely do. Her name is Mysterious, but she will go by Missy for short. They really don't know much about her but the other day when I held her all she did was purr. I will be sure to post a pic of her when we pick her up. Oh and get this, we have only been up here since last Wednesday and Shawn's mom and step dad are up here all week. Luckily it is for business but I know his mom pulled strings to get to actually go on a business trip and then to DC because she has never gone on a business trip in the last 3 yrs that I've known her. I don't mind that they are up here because we won't see them...until Friday night when apparently we have to cook dinner for his mom in our house that we may or may not have our furniture or even unpacked if we do.Boy this is going to be a fun week! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

Bev, it's official in that I informed my editor that I'm looking. We have a good relationship, it was just good manners so that if he gets a call from another editor checking my creds, he's not shocked. It also means that when I do get a bite, when I give my two-week notice he's mentally prepared for the whole hiring thing. It's a distressing process for a small newsroom to find and break-in a new reporter.

Sarah, so, tell us about Missy? What color is she? Long hair or short? Chunky or sleek? I love love love kitties.

Arwen, I think the humane society had just found her a couple of days before we looked at her and she never made it onto their website. She is gray and white with some black under lying strips. They don't know what happened to her before they found her but she does have some sores around her neck that are healing. Right now she has short hair and is sleek but that could all change. Once we get her into a stable, not as threatening, atmosphere then we will be able to see her come out of her shell. She does love to be petted and purrs up a storms. She will probably be really spoiled! It takes a special kitty to worm it's way into my heart after losing my last one like we did.

She sounds adorable, and I hope she will recover well from her wounds. I thought after I lost my last cat (after 19 1/2 years with him) I wouldn't be able to get another cat, but I lasted all of four days before I found myself at the shelter picking out a kitten.

Hellloooo fellow cat lovers!! :-) I absolutely love kitties too. We have two, both tabbies and both rescues. They are so spoiled and so loved. We do have a yellow lab (Phillip's) and I talk to him (the lab) in a high squeaky voice too, but I'm totally a cat person, always have been.

Stephanie, kids, dog and cat made it to Groton tonight. will be getting keys to their place tomorrow.

I'm really a cat person, but there's something social about being a dog owner that I miss when I don't have one. Going out for walks, meeting people along the way, etc... You just can't do that with a cat. Not most cats anyway.

Right now we have a Corgi. She's my daughter's dog, but she thinks she's mine. Silly dog. She also HATES being the dog in a house with three cats, and one of the cats is a Maine Coon as big as she is!

Lol, look what I started. I was a cat person until Bella. I agree with Arwen that there is just something about taking them places and meeting new people. We knew everyone at the dog park we use to take Bella to. Shawn is a cat person but I am slowly changing him in to an animal person but he won't budge. He did say we could get a puppy in a few months but we will see. He just won't let me have a hedgehog.

Oh so we have a date to get our pack outs delivered and it we will be in our house for a whole before we get it. I guess we are lucky that we have an air mattress with us!

Sarah - We didn't get our things delivered for 2 weeks lol lots of sleeping on the floor and eating out.

Slimsam~ Have a wonderful trip.:)))) I am verry excited for you. How long will you be there?

Pam~ Hope all is well. How is Justin? Ed is hoping to have leave at the end of June. I can't wait to see him.

I hear you:)) I am the same way.

That's so nice that slimsam got to go to Pensacola. Those trips to visit them are the ultimate regarding worth it, seeing your loved one and seeing where they are. They usually have to be short trips, but well worth it.

Beverly, are you out of school yet? Summer vacation strarted today here. (but not for me)

Our Army son is finished with basic training healing up and is headed for graduation and Airborne School now. Going to call Navy son right now.

Yes, I hope everyone has a good weekend and that our communities will honor our military and those who gave their lives for our country. Where did the saying, "Happy Memorial Day" come from? Geez, I used to say it too, but now Memorial Day has a whole new meaning to me. God bless our loved ones who are serving. And you know my favorite saying, "Those Who Wait also Serve", so God bless all of you too.

This week will reveal Chris' fate: whether he finishes by the deadline date (it unlikely that he can complete 28 mods in 3 days), is given another week or two to finish, will be re-designated to another school or is sent to the fleet as an undesignated seaman.

We should know for certain on Thursday. Finally, some resolution to his ongoing soap opera.

I can't bring myself to get my guts knotted up this time. He has done this to me too many times now. All I have left is a sigh and a hope that this works out for the best. I know sailors for whom it was disaster and never recovered (both of them ended up with dishonorable discharges), and others for whom it worked out okay.