A real letter!

Well, earlier this week we received a postage due notice from the post office. They didn't list who the object was from, so we had no clue. Today, out of curiosity, we went to the post office to see what it was that was going to cost us $.95. To our delight, it was a heavy letter from Bradley. He had managed to stuff a large booklet inside a small envelope and that's why it was too heavy for one first-class stamp. It was from the Navy Credit Union-he wanted us to read it and tell him what we think. His timing was eerie because i had written a letter to him this morning and had planned to mail it to him at the post office. Brad said to wait just in case the postage due was from Bradley...and it was :) So we added some stuff to the letter and got it off to him. It was so great to hear from him. We have been waiting for something of substance and here it was. Poor kid is exhausted. Said they work them hard from the time they get up til they go to bed. No free time at all except on Sundays and then it's only 4 hours. They either have to polish their boots, write letters, or go to church. It sounds like he hasn't been to church yet, which is disappointing, but he has to make his own decisions now. He said he has made some friends, but you can't count on any of them yet. There is some in-fighting in their division but Bradley says he thinks they kind of set the guys up to do that. Guess they break them all down before they build them back up and this is a side-effect. He says he just keeps to himself (big surprise!) and does what he has to do. He said he's not miserable, just really, really tired. I guess that's good, but I can't help but feel bad for him. He said that food's not bad, so that's something! :) Thousands of boys survive bootcamp, including my younger brother, so I know Bradley will too.

We also received his graduation information on Friday. He graduates bootcamp on Friday July 31st. He only had us listed as attending, so I'm wondering if they limited it to 4 people? We'll have to leave Nathan at home even though I know he misses Bradley and wants to see him. But that's a long time for him to sit still, so he will have to skip it. I wrote and asked him if more people could come so we'll have to wait and see. The Navy letter also said that most recruits will go straight from boot camp to training with no break. We were really hoping Bradley would have a day or 2 at home after bootcamp (or longer) but I guess he won't. Training is 8 more weeks, so he will be at Great Lakes until the end of September at least. After that, who knows.

At least we know he's basically ok, adjusting to his new schedule and life, and misses us. That was a nice bonus to hear :) We sent him stamps today so hopefully he'll continue to write and can respond if anyone else writes.

We'll keep you posted!

Navy News!

We finally heard from Bradley - sort of. It was mostly form letters from the Navy, but on the bottom of one of the pages, after his mailing address so we could write to him, was a 3 line note. Basically saying that he was fine, and "even though we get yelled at from the time we wake up to the time we sleep, it's still kinda fun". LOL - Guess I made him immune to yelling by hollering at him all these years :) It was great to know SOMETHING, even though it wasn't much, it was a lifeline. We know he's mostly ok and now we have his address so we can write to him. for those of you that want to write to him, look on the right side of our main page for his address. I'm sure he'd love notes, stamps, phone cards etc.. They can't get any food there - so no homemade goodies. I was looking forward to sending that stuff, but guess it'll have to wait.

Official Navy Oath...

June 3rd - the big day. Bradley is being sworn in with 87 other recruits ar a Sox game tonight. The Navy set this up with the Sox, Navy Appreciation night, and they did this every years. The families are able to buy tickets for half-price, in the section where the recruits are sitting and after the ceremony, we can sit together. Of course, we live in the Great White North, so it took us over 2 1/2 hours to get down there, so we missed most of the ceremony. We did get to see Bradley and sit with him and this time, the other kids got to say Goodbye too. They called him away at the end of the 6th inning, so that's when we left. It was sad to see him go, but he was still fine with it all and ready to go.

Bradley's off to the Navy

Wow - here we were, all ready for Bradley to leave on June 3rd. Well, as ready as we could be. When he first enlisted and told us that he wouldn't actually be leaving until June, it seemed a long way off. But when it got to be May 30th, and we were having the combined "Bon Voyage/Graduation/3rd Birthday" party for all the kids, it seemed too soon. We had the party Saturday and on Monday, June 1st, Bradley received a call at 9:30 am from his recruiter telling him to report to his office by noon that day. He still had his braces on! So, after panicked calls to Brad asking him to come home, the orthodontist asking him to squeeze us in a day early and ASAP, and calls to family and friends letting them know he was lea=ving early, we headed out. Brad was lucky to be close to home and his boss let him leave, the orthodontist squeezed us in, and the braces were off by 11:00am. The recruiter was right up the street, so sadly, we drove him there and said goodbye. And I cried like a baby, while my sailor-to-be just laughed like I was nuts. He was fine with leaving - said he was ready and that leaving early didn't bother him. Brave or just hiding his real feelings? We didn't know but off he went.