Jimmy's Farewell Party

                                                                                   

I was there in the delivery room with my daughter when Jimmy was born. I knew from that first moment that my first grandson was going to be a warrior. How? Well for starters, he punched the doctor who delivered him in the nose within seconds after being born. No! I’m not exaggerating. My grandson reached up and popped the doctor in the nose. We all laughed about this even the doctor.

                                                                  

 

Growing up, Jimmy was always fascinated by Ninjas, swords, knights and soldiers. He and his brothers fought many battles in my back yard as they pretended to be pirates or Samurai warriors. I was often encouraged to join in the battle, but most of the time was assigned the job of corpse or prisoner. After Jimmy graduated from High School, he joined the United States Marines. Oorah! But, what my daughter, her husband and his grandparents didn’t know was that Jimmy had been planning this for some time.

                                                                   

 

My daughter and her husband had a big send-off party this past Saturday for Jimmy who will be heading to Camp Lejeune for infantry training.

                                                                                       

Friends and family all gathered around to celebrate and it was the best time ever. Plenty of good food and conversations made the whole day perfect. 

                                                                                

I even got to visit with my daughter’s childhood friend, Rita Palange-Screnci, who was there with her husband and son. Rere and Rita were always together, through thick and thin, and I’ve come to think of Rita as my second daughter.

                                                                     

                                                                   11 year old Rere and Rita

Jimmy’s younger brothers, Joshua and Nathan are sure going to miss their big brother. Who will they fight with? Oh yeah, each other!

                                                                  

 

The perfect party included a surprise visit from the bike club, Warriors Watch Riders of NJ, who stopped by to say goodbye. Joshua and his friend Tyler get the credit for arranging this. Tyler’s dad is a member of the Warriors Watch Riders. Thank you, Mr. Tucci. Jimmy's childhood friend, Sean is also leaving for military tour, overseas. Stay safe, soldier. 

                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

I was thinking as I watched Jimmy joke with his friends and family at the party, that it has been a blessing watching him grow from that infant, who came out fighting, to the man he is now.

                                                                                            

 When he leaves on Tuesday, he’ll take his family’s love and support with him, but….also a nice chunk of his parent’s and grandparent’s souls. That’s how we live forever…giving chunks of ourselves (our souls) away to our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Oorah!

                                                                      

Road Trip Home, Part Two: From Here to Eternity

                                                                     

After, Jimmy’s graduation from Parris Island, my daughter and her family with me riding shotgun began our long ride, 700 miles, home to New Jersey.  Although the van was a nice size, after we packed it up with our suitcases, Jimmy’s marine bags, three adults and three teens, the van seemed to mysteriously shrink in size. We were tired from all the activities of Family Day and Graduation Day at Parris Island and I was anxious to get home to my husband, who was too sick to make the trip.

                                                                          

My daughter and I were squeezed into a little section of the van as the boys either fell asleep or played a board game. To play the board game one of the seats had to be folded down and used as a table. I told my daughter that I felt like one of those poor cows that were warehoused at industrial farms. MOO!

                                                                     

We stopped for lunch after being on the road for several hours. After a quick bite, we loaded back into the car only to learn after driving for an hour that we had to turn back. One of the boys forgot their cell phone behind.
                                                                                   

I'm not mentioning any names, and none of us were happy about the extra time on the road, but shit happens. My son-in-law was anxious to get me home to hubby and figured that we would make it home by 10 p.m. on Friday night if he kept the pedal to the metal. Wrong!

Young Jimmy has a childhood friend (also a new marine) who is being transferred overseas and he wanted to visit him at the Fort Lee base. We made the detour and after entering the base, got lost a few times before finding his friend. Happy reunion between friends accomplished, we headed to a restaurant before continuing the trip.

                                                                 

The newest estimated arrival time to New Jersey was now closer to 1:30 Saturday morning, which I wouldn’t have minded except my daughter and I were exhausted and still squished in-between three growing or grown teens. Help!

                                                                    

Someone got the bright idea to put on a movie called Dragon Ball Z. I had no freaking idea who or what Dragon Ball Z was about. Why were all the characters in that movie screaming at each other? What was the background story on Dragon Ball Z? Nathan, the youngest, took his time explaining to me and my daughter who each character was. I wasn’t impressed.

                                                                   

Maybe it was because my daughter and I were so exhausted or maybe it was because we were giddy from the lack of oxygen due to being squished in the van, all I know is that we began to laugh hysterically while Nathan explained who and what Goku, Chi-Chi, Gohan, Broly and Oolong the pig were doing in this movie.  I don’t know about you, but Oolong is a very strange pig.

                                                                          

Like I said, it was a long ride home and my poor son-in-law drove it all by himself. When we did arrive back home, we all tumbled out of the car and began unpacking. I arrived home a little past two in the morning. That night, I had a nightmare that I was a character on Dragon Ball Z.