Parris Island _Mom get off the Island! Week 1

Well despite my son's pleading for me to mentally get off the island I think about that island and what my son indured there...but that story is his own and not really for my telling. For me my story of the US Marine Corps starts there too. Okay pack your son/daughter that you have spent everyday of your life caring for and protecting to go to boot. What do you pack...absolutely nothing! They get to take nothing! Holy crap! I thought I was brillant by buying a pre-paid mailer pre-weighed so my son could fly with his phone and his i-pod well it worked out for me but let me tell ya something a not very well traveled Mom did not know..no post office mailboxes in airports. So my son had to beg a traveler to mail it home for him. (To that traveler I thank you for your kindness but also wonder what the heck you were thinking you don't take packages from strangers and mail them) As he called through the day my apprehension grew but he had found some scared recruits and was helping them along the way.

The beloved first phone call..nothing more than a way to touture us. Its a call that really doesnt say hey Mom i am okay..the real message is we have your kid,the cord is cut so get a grip Mom and adapt.

The first week is adjusting week for them and for us family members. I found a website parrisisland at yuku.com where I found a few new friends who would help me through this beginning journey. Most were parents a few were DI'S wives who to get through all the time their husbands were away would chat with us and fill us in, comfort us and tell us to get a grip and often I am sure laugh at us! Oh N and C you know you did!

My son being from Maine and spending a freezing winter in Maine and heading directly to boot camp in South Carolina found that he was unfamilar with necessary hydration techniques of Southerners...we are not camels here in the North! So my Son quickly found the deck..and the Naval Hospital. If you are a boot Mom..yes they call you right away. The DI that called me said Ma'me at no time during the fall did your recruit's head hit the deck. He seized and the doc says he is lucky it was a bad heat stroke! What?! So I asked this Marine are you telling me that my house is on fire and it burnt down and at no time did you slam the door..????? He thought for a moment... and oh yes I made the DI laugh...Yes Ma'me I guess it would sound like that. Next question. Do you need to talk to your son? Thoughts racing..mind saying hell yes...I responded, No he is a grown man and I am sure he can handle this. I said that! What?! It was a good answer but geesh..of course I wanted to talk to my son. Those Marine's did cut the cord. I will tell you now and again later i signed up for nothing. I went back to the before mentioned website..changed my away symbol to a crying face and was instantly bombed with wonderful Moms/family aand miltary family with support and a few buck ups!

I spend the first week in a daze. I became a cryer which normally I find annoying and i wrote two letters a day waiting for the inital address. I am sure my husband thought i was a crazy woman but he did not mention it. My husband is not a stupid man! With week 1 under my belt I was learning about their Senior Drill instructor who would be their daddy who would come to get them....No one told me about their KILL HAT YET....but soon C and N would...and Tracer and SB would comfort me about him too! I signed up for nothing...