Beginnings

[pjgood2plus2]

My daughter has just completed bootcamp at Great Lakes and is at MassCom for her A School. This has been the beginning of her life ephipany and journey. I hope to tell her story from my mother's heart. Maybe readers will recognize their own child and find encouragement.

 

I received a phone call back in December of 2011 from my daughter with the news that she had joined the Navy. Many of you have heard similar news. It was a shock, but upon reflection, this was her method. Most of her life in the past 17 years has hit me like a tornado. She will be 33 at the end of this month and she has been an enigma to me for a long time. Our estrangement was just beginning to diminish, but we had a long way to go. She told me she was on DEP and would not enter until April 2012. Time for us to talk and for me to hear her heart in making this major change to her life. Over the next few months, she would tell me about her preparations, testing, and plans for her departure. Many of her changes and preparation were highly personal and I won't go into depth here, but they were difficult to hear and I am sure hard for her to do. My job was to encourage, listen and pray.

 

One day a few weeks into February, she told me that she had passed her test to enter MassCom and that an opening was available. That meant she would leave for boot in March, one month sooner. I knew then that the journey was beginning in earnest. She was scheduled to leave March 23. It was really happening and we both were anxious in our own way. There were a few more calls and eventually the day arrived. I wasn't sure I would hear from her, but I got a call at work and she was at the hotel awaiting departure to the airport. It would be a long wait from there to her arrival at Great Lakes. I was pleased that she wanted to talk and we arranged for her to call again that evening while at the airport. A mom always hopes and prays for the best for her children and our estrangement had robbed us both of many years. I was pleased that she wanted to share her thoughts and time in the last hours before departure. Later that evening, we talked a long time. She shared that she had been reading the book of Esther and really identified with the story. We dubbed her journey "Project Esther" and prayed. After more tears and a final goodbye, we called it a night. There was one final call as she boarded the plane and then the waiting began. When she landed, she called to say she had arrived and I would have to wait another two weeks before her first letter arrived.