In The Navy

What a great time we had, I have to say it was one of our more memorable vacations. I took tons of pictures of course, but the ones I wasn't allowed were the ones I wish I had. When we were sitting in the parking lot waiting for Jackson's unit I was watching all the new recruits. All dressed perfectly in their uniforms, looking so much like young men. But as they came around the corner you could see the anxiety in their eyes as they looked for their moms and dads and the relief when they were spotted, the others retreated to the sidewalk to wait in a group, scanning each car as it went by. We took Jackson to the mall as requested, most of the base was there, back on more familiar ground for them. This is a major transition period for them, a few people came up to Jackson and shook his hand and thanked him for serving our country (how cool is that!) and he looked so grown up, but he's not so grown up that we didn't get dragged to the Safari tour to look at the snakes. He played the video games at our hotel - they were old ones but any port in a storm as they say. The next day we couldn't spend the entire day, he wanted to go back to the mall - we ran into his friend from the base and they were doing something in the afternoon so we headed off for an early lunch. We could've spent an a little more time with him but I didn't want him to miss an afternoon out - he was a little anxious as we didn't spot them but we headed down to the other cafe and there they were. We hugged goodbye and my last look of him was Jackson heading off to his friends eagerly for whatever adventures planned for the last afternoon of liberty. I miss him, but I'm glad to see he's doing well and enjoying his new life. We headed off to the airport, we ended up sitting but it was alright because there's plenty to do there. We got in late and then there was the VERY long drive home, we arrived about 1 am, threw the suitcases on the floor and headed to bed. This week is looming large and we now have a new set of spanky bills to pay, but this is it for awhile. We are going to ground and staying there for a few months. At least.