About a week before we left for California, we received a letter from Brian reminding us to wear red both days at MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot). It was his battalion’s color. Oh. OK. Would you believe, none of us had much to wear that was red? I had a red dress, but that was about it. Off we all went to Kohls to do some shopping. On a side note – don’t you love that store???

Anyway, did you know that red wasn’t a hot color this summer? Doug found two red polo shirts, and after much searching, I found a red shirt. It was much harder to find red for the girls, and Jonalyn ended up with an orangey-red shirt that had been Alyssa’s.

Fast forward to the morning of family day. To say we were excited to see Brian would be the understatement of the century. I couldn’t wait. We went down for a quick breakfast – or not so quick. The line was very, very long. And as we stood waiting, we observed that the other parents there for graduation were all wearing Marine Corps T-shirts.

You. Had. To. Be. Kidding. Now what??? And after we went through all we did to find red shirts!!!

Well, we ate quickly and got an early shuttle to MCRD. It was amazing to see all the yellow buildings and the recruits drilling on the parade grounds. One of those kids was Brian!!!

 

These are the barracks where he lived for three months. His room was on the first floor on the right side.

They finished practice and we ducked into the MCX and bought a bunch of T-shirts. My dad’s is the best. On the front it says: Don’t Worry America. On the back it says: My grandson has your back. Cool!

The drill instructor (DI – c’mon people, the military loves their acronyms!) put us through our paces, teaching us how to answer him. “Yes, sir.” When he yelled, “ears”, we had to answer, “open, sir.” When he yelled, “eyeballs”, we had to answer, “click, sir”.

When he finished his spiel, we moved to the parking lot to watch the motivational run, aka “moto run”. Each platoon ran together, so we knew which general idea of where to look for him. We got a glimpse of him. Just a glimpse. But it was something.

Now, surely, we could get our hands on him. No dice. The DI took us to the theater on base. We saw a video of what basic training was like. We heard a couple of speeches. We saw a couple of kids become US citizens (didn’t know you didn’t have to be a citizen to be a Marine). Surely now?? It was noon already.

The DI instructed us to go outside. The platoons marched out and then they were released.

Oh, joy, joy, joy!! But I couldn’t find him. Where could he be? Then I turned around and there he was. Happy tears. I hugged him. The DI warned us they may seem taller because they are standing straighter. He was right about that. And he was so handsome in his uniform. Oh. My. Word. For a while, we chatted. Even as we walked to where we wanted to have lunch, I couldn’t stop looking at him. He asked me if I had any questions for him. Funny, all the things I wanted to say to him earlier that morning had fled my brain.

We went over to the bowling alley and burger place to get lunch. We stood in line for a long, long time – maybe about 45 minutes or so. The burgers were average, but it was good to sit and talk. We walked around for a bit. He wanted to shop and so, while Mom and I went to the convenience store for a few items we were running low on, the rest went to the MCX. He wanted a new iPod touch, so that’s what he got for a gift.

He took us to the base museum and we walked around there for a while. They closed the upstairs on us, though, and I was disappointed. We went outside and in this plaza they had food set up. We each got a snack. I went to Starbucks. Big mistake. The line was sooo long. I was mad that I missed so much time with him.

All too soon, we had to say good-bye. But it was great to be able to say, “See you tomorrow.”

We were a bit hungry by the time we got back to the hotel, so we had the shuttle take us to this pizza place. It was just a bit farther than the restaurant from the night before, but I was pretty wiped out. I was able to get spaghetti. The reviews were good all around.

What a wonderful day. Oh, to see my boy again. I didn’t realize just how much you could miss your kid.

What is the longest you’ve been without your children?