My heart aches

[Deontes MOM]

Well my baby left yesterday to BC. It feels like someone took the air away, At times I feel like I want to cry and other times I want to scream, I looked in his room last night, Ghent I closed the door. I got a call from Jim last night letting me know he was off the plane and made it. But hat was the last call I received from him. I find it hard to leave my phone because I don't want to miss a call. People tell me all of the time that it will get better, and know it will but it's just so fresh now.

[HuffyMom23]

My son left for BC on 9-11, and I still feel like crying all the time.  He is the baby of the family and my only son.  Even though I have 2 older brothers that did 20 years in the Navy, I still felt clueless about this whole experience.  I don't remember my mother being this emotional when they left home.  On the other hand she still had 3 girls at home.  We now have an empty nest and it is too quiet.

 He called on Sunday and got choked up when I answered.  He admitted to being homesick but was still glad he made the decision to join.  I remained positive while talking to him, but after I hung up I cried.  I keep thinking each week will get better, but boy do we miss that young man.  I hope all the kids in BC realize how proud we parents are of them.  Graduation won't come soon enough!

 

 

[Ship13Div412]

My son left on September 2nd and it's still hard.  He's my first born and the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  I think the hardest part is that we know our children better than anyone else and we just want them to succeed...it doesn't help that when a child leaves the nest it can be an emotional thing.  The funny thing is that he has twins sisters who are 8 years old, and they are the ones that try to make me feel better.  They always say mom, it's only 8 weeks and he'll be back :) Little do they know that when they are adults and have children of their own, they will feel the same way I did when their children leave the nest.  Best advice I can say is keep busy, write to them as often as you can because my son does repeatedly tell me that our letters do get him through the homesickness...during the days when they are training, they don't have much time to think about the family, there's so much to learn and to do but when it's lights out sometimes they sit there laying in their racks and all they can think about is family and how much they miss us...they look forward to our letters and cards...hang in there!

[TJsMom SHIP 03 DIV 021]

Its just not easy, is it. My son and I are so close, along with my daughter. His dad was not really there for him, but I made sure he knew he was loved by everyone else. His sister and I have our moments of sadness since he left. It seems like when I am strong she is weak and when I am weak, she is strong for me. Out of no where it just creeps up on me and I start to cry. I am a strong woman, but this has taken the wind out of me. If he were at college I could talk to him, hear his voice and communicate. Being cut off like this just increases the anxiety. I wish everyone comfort and know that as much as we love them and realize they made a huge decision for their future, we are still parents, siblings, families who miss them so very much!

[Sheree]

Wouldn't you agree this has to be one of the hardest things to go through? It's such a bitter sweet moment. We have to let them fly their wings and go. They will be such remarkable men and women However, as moms. It's a real struggle not knowing how they are or what they are going through. It's been a little over a week now and I'm like hey only seven weeks to go. I'm bringing lots of tissue to graduation. I heard that song mother and child reunion the other day from Paul Simon all I could think of is the day I see him again.

[lenrose]

Oh ladies I see so many of my emotions in your comments :) My son will be graduating BC in one week....its so close but I still miss him like I did from day one. Crazy I know. We all have our own stories ( my son is an only child which I raised by myself so my seperation anxiety is beyond words.) @ Deontes mom..... I couldn't wait to clean his room, its been 7 weeks and I haven't touched it....lol @ HuffyMom23 my sons first phone call he cried :( which broke my heart. Three days later he called again and sounded happy,proud,determined, etc..... So ladies that first phone call may break your heart but my son said he didn't realize how much he missed my voice. Is this the same child who said I nagged him too much? LOL. We are now Navy moms. We may never meet or even know each others "real" names but we are family now :)

[HuffyMom23]

Thanks for your encouraging words lenrose.  Every night I come home from work and get everything done so that I can sit down and get on my computer to see what all the moms have posted.  I am happy for you that you will be able to see your son in one week.  I am hoping when my son calls home this week, I will also hear a difference in him.  I have worried about him all week since that call.  My daughters are both away from home at college, but I know I can talk or text them everyday.  I just can't adjust to knowing that he won't be living under our roof again.  There is something about knowing your college kid will come home for summer.  This is a whole other situation to adjust to.  I will always remember that look on his face when we told him goodbye.  I have to say we were lucky enough to spend the night at the same hotel as him the night before he left.  That also had its downfalls.  I felt like I was going to cry every time I looked at him.  It was soooo hard to tell him goodbye.  He gave us a smile, we gave him our hugs and then turned around and left.  I never looked back because I was barely holding it in.  My husband was the same.  They are very close.  When I know that he is adjusting and is okay, I will feel so much better.  For now, I am still really having a hard time when I think about him or talk about him to people. 

[lenrose]

HuffyMom23... I was lucky enough to spend the night before he took his oath at MEPS in the same hotel as him too. He will never know how heavy my heart was that whole evening though. I went through the same emotions between the first call and second call....to be honest whenever I think of how he sounded in that first call it still brings tears to my eyes. Our boys will always be our babies :) My mom gave me some great advice when I said goodbye to him at MEPS. " Don't cry and he won't cry, cry and he will cry." Its so sweet when I get letters from him and he says I LOVE YOU MOMMA....or when he offers to pay for my car rental to come to graduation. (Which I did not take him up on) I mean he isn't making that much.....lol. But this coming from a boy wwho would borrow $50 and acted surprised when I wanted him to pay me back....lol

[HuffyMom23]

God love em!  They are turning into our little men. lol  I absolutely hate to cry in front of people.  I had the hardest time holding it in those last few nights with him.  He wasn't big on going out all the time until he graduated in May.  He was gone every night doing things with his friends.  But that last week before he left, he stuck close to us.  Even the night before he left, he laid on the bed in our room and watched the baseball game with his dad.  At 10:00 pm he went back to his room for bed.  I just wanted to ask him to stay with us all night, but I knew I couldn't do that.  I didn't sleep all night.  Then I called him at four in the morning and he came back to our room to get ready.  When we finally went over to see him for the swearing in ceremony, all the kids just looked nervous.  Felt bad for them.  We ate lunch with him and then told him goodbye.  I felt bad because I couldn't hardly say anything to him because I was fighting back those darn tears.  All I said was do good buddy.  Lame.. lol  I agree with if you don't cry they won't cry.  I was thinking the same thing.  But I never looked back.  Darn this bootcamp! lol 

[lenrose]

I wanted my son to come to my room in the morning but they weren't allowed to. In all reality boot camp is where they are the safest. One of the moms posted that earlier today. I don't know about you but this is the longest I hope I ever have to go without any communication with my son.

[HuffyMom23]

I agree!  Now I just hope once graduation and training is over, he gets stationed out of Norfolk.  I have a brother who is a contractor for the Navy and he lives out that way.  He is sometimes out on a ship for months, but when he is back he would be good about spending time with his nephew.  Plus it is closer to go visit him then some of these other bases.  One of my good friends has a son at Marine bootcamp in San Diego right now.  My son had originally planned on joining the Marines but decided on the Navy.  He has 2 uncles who retired from the Navy, and one uncle who retired from the Air Force.  Of course they were steering him towards one of those 2 branches.