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.

                                                                           

 

Road Trip to Parris Island, Part One

                                                                      

The Proud Mom and Dad of James R. Reid the 3rd.

        

                                                               

This past month has been a flurry of excitement with all the families of the Parris Island recruits preparing for the big day…the day their sons, daughters, grandchild, sibling, husband or wife was graduating boot camp and becoming a full-fledged Marine.

                                                                        

                                                            
Everyone, who was connected to a recruit in 3rd Battalion Kilo Company was able to check in on their recruit because of the Kilo Facebook page and a very special person who ran the site, Tammy Opel. This amazing woman kept many parents and grandparents calm while explaining exactly what would be happening to the daily. We can’t thank you enough, Tammy. I’m sorry that we didn’t get to meet you on Graduating day, but I will keep in touch through Facebook.

                                                                           

Whenever a picture was posted to the Kilo page, my daughter and I would scour through the photos trying to find a picture of Jimmy. There were several pictures that I even posted to my Facebook page swearing that they were of my grandson. Ha! We weren’t even close, but for some reason; they all look the same. Kind of makes me wonder how good of a job I would do picking someone out of a police line-up.

                                                                     

But luckily for us, Michele Breland Gauthreaux found a picture of Jimmy and the article saying that, yes indeed, this was our recruit. Michele was also the person assigned to getting the news out about the SAM BAGS. I wrote a blog about this event …more on this later.

                                                                      

Wednesday Morning

The plans were for my husband Dan and me to ride in a rental van with my daughter and her family all the way to Parris Island, but as we all know, the best laid plans of mice and men often get screwed up. My husband, who was hit with several major health issues this past month,  had to stay home, while I went with my daughter and her family on the road trip.


The van although huge, seemed to shrink with each passing mile; 700 miles to be exact. At one point, it was suggested that I ride on the roof of the van, just like in a certain movie...only kidding, but it was a long trip.
                                                                     

We arrived at our hotel, the Detreville House, which is part of the Marine Corp Community, late Wednesday night. The hotel was awesome and we were protected by armed marines; cool!

                                                                

Family Day and a Freezing Thursday Morning

                                                                                

                                                             

 We were at the base by 6 a.m. to line up and cheer for our brand new marines at the Family Day Race. It was so stinking cold on that Island, and my daughter and I were bundled up like Polar explorers, but it didn’t help at all. We couldn't wait until Jimmy and the other marines were dismissed for a few hours of liberty

                                                                         

 Nathan and Joshua were in their glory and couldn’t get enough of their big brother. I found this really funny since they did nothing but fight before he left for basic training, but absence does make the heart grow fonder, especially when you can raid big brother’s X-box games.

                                                                          

My son-in-law and my daughter were so very proud of their son. They were pleased to know that contrary to how he kept his room at home, Jimmy was quite capable of making a bed. Thank you Drill Instructors!

                                                                            

Thursday night we headed over to Gilligan’s Seafood Restaurant for dinner…they have the best food, ever, followed by Gilligan’s manager, Kelly telling us the history of how the Sam Bags Project was started. Sam Bags stand for Stand Alone Marines. These are marines whose families, for a number of reasons, are unable to attend the graduation ceremony. This site explains everything and how you can participate even if you don't have any family members at Parris Island.

                                                                       

                                                                        

I was able to get a picture of three kilo moms, starting with Michele Breland Gauthreaux on the left, Candy in the middle and Patty on the right. We all pitched in and packed the blue bags with goodies  for the big day. I’m going to support and blog about this event every year from now on because I really think this is such a worthwhile cause.

Friday: Graduation Ceremony

This was the big day and all the Kilo families were in the bleachers waiting for their marines to go through the graduation ceremony. It was all so very impressive, but for four families even more so because four marines from the Kilo Company received awards.

                                                                           

Jimmy was one of the four and he received a plaque

                                                                          

 Pvt. James R. Reid III, Kilo Company high shooter of Platoon 3018, earned a rifle score of 335 out of 350. I guess it does pay to play war games on X-Box.

                                                                          

After the ceremony, we all loaded into the van for the long and wayward ride home. Stay tuned for part two or as I like to call it, “From Here to Eternity.”