Stop Moping!

That's my instruction to myself this week. I'm really sorry for neglecting all of you, and this blog to mope. The oldest went back to the Army this week, and I already miss him. The youngest took the ASVAB test and has decided to follow his brother into the Army, and nothing I (or his brother) has said can dissuade him. So, barring a problem with his physical in a few days, he'll ship out later this summer for basic training.

As if that wasn't enough, the middle one thinks he wants to be a Marine. A Marine - my gentle son, a Marine. Let me just go lock myself in the bedroom and scream for a bit, okay? My husband's entire family have been Marines, and Melissa was a Marine, so I know something about that particular branch of the Armed Forces, and that's part of what scares the heck out of me.

So, I'm trying hard to stop moping. I have to study, for one. For two, it doesn't solve anything. For three, I remember being that age and feeling as if life was passing me by and I had to go out and grab it by the horns. In all likelihood, I'll have an empty nest by the end of the summer and in spite of the fact that I have all but chained them to a building at a college, it looks like all of them want to do some time in the military before they start school.

What's a mother to do? Well, this mother has started working out again, with the boys. I was an Army nurse, and although I am old and short I do know a few things about physical training. So, we're running a couple of miles a day, and we're doing push-ups and sit-ups and pull-ups. And, if training with an 18-year old and a 20-year old won't kick your tail, nothing will. With a little work they'll go off to boot camp ready for that initial physical training test and I'll lose a few pounds and get back into some semblance of a shape and fall completely apart when they leave... but that's another post!