Well a week ago my son PIR'd and I am still on cloud nine about that! It was something so beautiful to see and believe it or not the tears only flowed twice. Once when his division passed where we were sitting and when the National Anthem was played/sang (I always tear up on that one).

We had no trouble getting to the handicapped parking and was offered a wheel chair as soon as I stepped out of the car! Now that is service, LOL. Of course I declined it, I had my cane with my…

I can't believe it will be a week from tomorrow and I will see my son!!! 

It seemed like such a long time ago that I watched him turn and go into the hotel after we said goodbye, but it also seems so short at the same time. I marked the weeks by the mail and got mad when there was a holiday that the mail didn't run because it made it one day later for me to get my letter from him. I still read them all.

I can't wait to see him march in with his division, head held high with…

It's 5:30am and I've been awake for about an hour and a half just thinking and then the realization hit me...26 more days and I can see my son. I won't be seeing the boy I left at the hotel the night before he went to boot camp though. I will be seeing the man he has become. It seems like a lifetime ago since I hugged him and told him to take care of himself, but then again it also seems just like yesterday. 

I realize that this is just the first phase of him not being around, that…

My daughter is highly involved in with horses and shows them in 4-H and we volunteer at the stables as much as possible. To take the family's focus off of my son, we volunteered to help with lead rides for a 6 year old little girl's birthday party. Everything went great!

We've been there alot over the past 7 months and became good friends with the owner. We were in her office and she stopped mid-sentence and asked "Do you have any office experience?" I just looked at her and smiled a…

I've only written one other blog. I had found it easier to deal with my emotions by helping others. It's been 25 days since I've seen my son, been able to hug him, laugh with him, see his smile. I'll get to do that in 35 days, a relatively short amount of time that seems to be forever. I miss him and his letters have helped. I tell other Moms, new ones, ones that are in the same PIR group as mine, to keep their heads up. Today I'm having a hard time doing that. It seems I've ran out of…

I've been here a while and reading other mother's blogs seeing that I'm not the only one who feels the way I do. There is the numbness, sadness, fear. There is also pride, excitement, joy and anticipation.

Numbness: I feel like an empty shell trying to deal with the sadness that I can't just log onto messenger and say "HI". The fear is the worst. I am afraid he'll get hurt, that he won't be able to manage being this long away from family. I know these fears are mindless and…