GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Patrick!

Patrick was accepted into the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS) this summer. He spent 10 weeks in Quantico, VA for OCS. We weren't able to talk with him for the first 3 weeks and were so curious as to how he was doing! The first time he was able to call us was during Austin Sewell's wedding and because I had the baby, I was out in the lobby area and was able to take the call! It was so great to hear his voice! We had been scanning the pictures on the OCS website trying to find him but they all look the same with thier closely buzzed haircuts that we weren't able to find him. I had convinced myself he was in some type of solitary confinement! (Not really...but I was a little worried that I hadn't seen him in any photos!).

After that first phone call, we were able to talk to him each weekend during his "liberty" time (aka Free time). We got caught up on what he had done that week - workouts, class, leadership simulations and each time we talked to him we found out he was doing well and scoring well on all of his things. I looked forward to my weekend call with Patrick!

He graduated on the weekend of August 13th and me, Sarah, mom & dad headed out to Quantico to see him & attend the graduation. Funny side note: I connected through Atlanta so was on the same flight with mom, dad and Sarah. Sarah and I both had our breast pumps which I've always been able to carry on board a plane without any problem - even when it exceeds the "2 bags per person" rule. So I told Sarah not to worry about consolidating and off we went to board the flight. Wouldn't you know we had the bag nazi on this flight and he seriously "SHOO'D" us off the plane, pointing his finger and saying "Off, Off, Off" because we had 1 too many bags each. I told him that a breast pump did not count because it was like a medical device and he didn't believe me. Oooh...I was so mad. So there Sarah and I were, standing on the jet bridge not able to board the plane. I finally got the idea that I would just find someone who only had 1 bag and ask them to carry a breastpump on for us as thier 2nd bag so we could get past the bag nazi. I saw this nice, older looking woman about 10 people back in line who only had a purse so I approached her and began to explain the situation. I then asked if she would carry the breastpump on the plane and she proceeded to look at me as if I had just asked her to carry a bomb. At this point, the loud speaker is saying "do not attend to any luggage that is not your own"! Ha! I hadn't even thought of that! Poor woman...she was so scared. I ended up trying to talk her OUT of carrying it for us...I was like, Maam, don't worry about it. I'll fight with the bag nazi and get it taken care of. She did end up carrying it on and we made it on the plane, but it was sure funny.

We got to Quantico on Thursday night and stayed at a Super 8 motel (much to my mothers dismay) before heading off to see Patrick on Friday morning. Patrick looked great and it was fun having him show us around the base. We learned more about the Marines (though I'm still confused on all of the different ranks, and who salutes who, and how you salute, etc.), shopped for some Marine gear, and just enjoyed spending time together!

On Saturday, we got up early to head to the graduation. My dad told us that we couldn't take any signs to hold up from the stands (we tried that when Patrick was in high school and in the state golf tournament...we got in trouble!). The graduation itself was pretty uneventful, though it was the first time we were able to see Patrick all dressed in his camouflage and marching. I didn't get any pictures of him in the camouflage, but he was sure handsome! I wished that my Papa Howard would have been able to be there - he would have loved every minute of it!!

I'm so proud of Patrick - his strength, his character, his discipline. It's inspiring to me and while the selfish part of me doesn't ever want him to have to go to war, it is so great to be able to see him so excited and just becoming such an amazing young man! So here's to the title of this post....GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Patrick!