"WILL YOU PLEASE RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND"

I'm sitting here on Sunday morning watching my son play a video game. He's so intense, you should see his face; clenched jaw, crazy eyes, muscles all rigid....and keeps screaming at the TV screen like someone with Tourette's Syndrome. 

I tell him, "Joshie, calm down, those monsters are not real!"

And he says, "You don't play video games, you don't get it!"

I say, "But I DO get that they are not real..."

And he says, "Well that just shows you how much you know!" ....and continues to yell at the monsters on the TV screen.

Whaaaat???! I spend all of his childhood chasing away monsters from under his bed and convincing him that they are not real, just to find out that I was wrong the whole time???! Hhmm....but a smart Mom knows when to shut up.

What I DO know for sure is that Josh got his waiver for the arm tattoo. He's worked very, Very hard to lose the 30 pounds and to pass his first class physical fitness test with flying colors. Johnny & I couldn't be more proud of him right now.

So.....guess what? The Marines are stealing my son again today!!!

Ok, less drama, please.....The Marines are coming to the house at 4pm today to pick up Josh and take him up to Baltimore for another over-nighter. Tomorrow morning, at o'dark thirty, he'll undergo approx. 8 hours of testing at MEPS (Military Enlistment Processing Station) and then afterwards Josh will officially swear into the Marine Corps!!

"WILL YOU PLEASE RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND"

And all of this will happen on his 20th birthday (tomorrow), so how cool is that? (Boot came is still delayed several months though).

When Josh comes home tomorrow night I'll have a bday cake waiting for him.

♥ ♥ ♥ And a big hug ♥ ♥ ♥

This is so surreal to me......I'm sitting here watching my son play video games, which I've been doing since he was 7 yrs old and received his first N64 for Christmas, knowing that in just a few hours he'll be picked up to go do one of the most important things he'll ever do in his life time, enlist into the U.S. Marine Corps.

A part of me wants to shrink him back to 7 years old as I sit here watching him scream at the TV. Just a teensy part.....you know.....on the back, right side of my heart. The part that is finding it very, VERY difficult to let go. I've gotten kinda used to the loud little stinker hanging around the house....for the past 20 years.

But I know it's time. He's been waiting for this and so have we. I'm going to go plan his birthday meal (and yummy black forest cake) grocery list now. I don't even care if he eats it, my only goal is to make damned sure that my boy feels loved and special on his birthday. That's my only mission in life tomorrow (and every birthday for the rest of his life!) Even if he doesn't get home until 11pm, I'll still have a hour to express that much known fact  :o) 

XOXOXOXOXOX I love you Josh!