Monday, November 21, 2011

Our Marine

It is official, Zach is in San Diego at Marine boot camp. I still can't believe he is gone, his car is in our driveway, his room is still a mess and smells like Zach (I mean that in a good way :)).

We had his going away party at my hall on the 13th, it was great to see his friends and family that came to say their good byes and wish him luck. It was a tough day for me, lots to do and not enough time for it all.

Sunday we headed to Des Moines, thanks to some easy pressure from my brother in law Ed we ended up going to Jethro's for Zach's last big dinner before boot camp. It was wonderful!!! They were pretty busy and the manager came to check on us while we waited, my mom told him we were there celebrating Zach and his new journey, the manager bought us two appetizers, it was so nice of them! A lot happened in the last week Zach was home, relationships changed that made Zach thankful and ready for this new adventure.

Monday morning we headed to MEPS, we arrived promptly at 8:00am. When we were buzzed in the guy signing us in looked at me and said, "Koch?". I smiled and said yes, then asked how the heck he knew, he said it is because he is government and knows everything, still not sure how he knew :) We waited, and waited, and waited, they had a nice family area for us to wait in and eventually we got to play cards in the lunch room. Bella saw Oreos in the vending machine and wanted them, of course the vending machine was broken and I had a five year old girl having a meltdown. My dad went to ask the guy who let us in if he knew how to fix it. He comes in, and this is a really big military man, he asks who needs the snack and sees Bella and her red eyes. He was so sweet and said, ok I will get our little Marine a snack. He grabbed the machine and shook the crap out of it until some Starburst fell out, the meltdown was saved :)

Zach was finally sworn in a little after 11:00am, it was very emotional for all of us, I could not have felt more proud. They let us stand up next to the podium so we got video and photos, afterwards they even took family pictures for us.

It was a great experience and I think about Zach daily, wondering what he is doing, how early is he having to get up, are they feeding him enough, is he happy, when the heck will we get our first letter???? So proud of him and can't wait to see him again in February for his graduation :)

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