Boot Camp Graduation

On Friday, Stephen graduated from naval recruit training. My sister-in-law, niece, baby nephew, and I sat through lots of drills which seemed very meaningful to the audience around me. I wasn't overly impressed. I was impressed, however, by the number of flags which his division had earned. Out of a possible ten, they had earned nine while setting multiple records. Yay!

When the commanding officer said "liberty call!" the whole room moved forward. The recruits were inundated with family. We forsook the room in a rush, all contained energy. We spent our afternoon in the hotel talking and napping and hearing about how everyone at boot camp gets sick at some point, and only "the wusses" go to medical. During these stories, Aida crawled up on her father's lap. She looked up at him and said any time she felt like it, "Daddy, I missed you." She kept his face in her field of vision at all times, soaking him in. As he told stories, moving his hands, she moved hers in the same way, imitating him exactly.

After we returned from dinner in the evening, Aida, Holden and I said goodbye to Stephen for the evening. He had to be back on base by nine pm, and he and Megan wanted an hour out together.

Oh, my. If you could only have seen her tears when she hugged her daddy goodbye. She wanted to be left alone then, with just her thoughts of her dad and the promise of seeing him in the morning. I cried, too. They've been best friends for so long.