TIME OUT!!!!!!!!!!!*Before I continue on my story, I hAve to insert here that I was acquainted, very well, with being in the military. Because my hubs, Patrick's daddy-o , aka TERRY, aka BIG T, was in the Army.BUT, not by his choice. He was drafted, and unlike Patrick, he went in with a , insert pout face, vs. when Pat left, insert happy face...At least PATRICK left happy!!!!!!....
So, Patrick was now on his way to Chicago and Boot Camp. "At least in April it won't be as cold there as it would be in January",my hubs quipped to Patrick the morning he left. UGH, even that didn't bring me any comfort. As soon as we got back home, and everyone left, I did what I'd been doing since January. I cried. And whined. And finally, got on the computer. I remember typing in NAVY first. All this stuff came up. And all these different venues to check out. Then I typed in Navy Moms. And that's when I hit gold. I found this small, (at the time, ok?!) ,site. I immediately joined it after reading about it. It was a place where moms could read/post/whine/brag about their Navy son. SOunded like a fit to me!!!!!!!! So, quickly I made a page about MY sailor and then, I started searching . And reading. It was a closed group so that obviously not just anyone could get in and get info about your sailor. Having said that, they encouraged you not to give info out that would , in any way, let enemies track your guy. (sad to think, right? Sad to think there are people who search websites like that to HARM others). Anyway, there were different "rooms"/topic oriented on this website. Where you could go and find others whose son might be 1. at the same bootcamp 2. entered the same time your sailor did 3. answers to any/all questions you might ever have about the Navy/being a Navy mom! And the best part???????????? THERE WERE MOMS THERE WHO UNDERSTOOD EXACTLY HOW I wAS FEELING!!!!!!! It was like I hit the jackpot. You could add friends there. So, soon, I had a BUNCH of them!!! now, let me say, there are, just like on FB, people who annoy the heck out of you on there. Some that, believe it or not (even in the Navy word) have totally different viewpoints. On life/on politics on religion. And there was ALWAYS a stink of some kind or other going on , on certain topics. I stayed away from all those. All I wanted to know about were those moms who understood the feelings I had about my son going into the world of the unknown. So, now I had all this info that I would've LOVED to have had when my husband was gone (b/c they have websites now for wives, too!) and it became my obsession. I was on all the time. Figuring out what Patrick was doing (the wealth of info was amazing)/all about the ships/all about rank/all about uniforms/EVERYTHING!!!!!!! And I still hadn't started connecting with those who would give me something far more than comfort about my son being gone. God was giving me newfound friendships that would change my life........
More to come.........