My Brother - The United States Marine

Well, I'm back home and trying to get back into the groove of things. The last few days have been exciting, emotional, and exhausting. Today, I will be skipping the Monday Minute that Ian hosts, to tell you all about the last few days in Parris Island & my Brother - The United States Marine. That doesn't mean, however, that you can just skip out on Ian, make sure you go check out his blushing red topic for the Monday Minute questions today. I'm serious, you'll blush.

Anyway...

It would be an understatement to say that this trip to Parris Island had been highly anticipated for the last 90 days. It was all we thought about from the moment my brother hopped in a van and left us all standing outside of the Recruiters Office that cold Sunday morning. We wrote letters back and forth, and waited; waited for April 8th to arrive.

There will never be another experience like the one we witnessed on Thursday morning. It was the moment we laid eyes on Errett for the first time in 3 months. His Platoon marched into the All Weather Facility, and there he was; front and center...literally. I tried taking pictures, but my hands shook so much, the tears poured down my face, and my heart felt like it was going to explode with excitement. It was nothing like anything I had ever experienced. Even walking down the aisle the night I got married was nothing compared to this.

The first picture is his platoon marching in, and the 2nd is an example of how bad I was shaking because of the blurry-ness of the picture. He is almost directly behind the D.I
I had to switch the setting on my camera because I was shaking so bad. The quality isn't as good, but at least you can see his face sharply
Thursday was Family Day, so we got to spend nearly an entire day with my Brother, as he showed us around Parris Island. I know he got so tired of the millions of questions that we were asking, but this place so amazing...so inspiring...so different. We wanted to know everything! This is where my little Brother had lived for 3 months...we wanted to know everything! Three months ago, my Brother would have gotten pretty frustrated with us all and our questions, but this new Errett...the Marine Errett, he was patient, and kind, and never once did he yell, "I'LL WRITE YOU A BOOK!" when one of us asked our thousandth question.

The first picture is us all together, me on the end, and the second picture is Errett in his Port Holes that he had to wear.
The first picture is him eating his first non-Boot Camp food, and the 2nd picture is his Barracks. He had top bunk
Me and my Marine Brother, and Breezy with her Marine Uncle!
Family Day ended around 3 p.m. We left our Marine, and headed back to where we were staying for the duration of our time. We went to bed early that night, because the next morning we were going to have to leave at 6 a.m for the Flag Ceremony at Parris Island and to see our Marine graduate.

Graduation Day was amazing too. It was held outdoors, the sun was out, and it was a beautiful morning. Perfect for a Marine Corps Graduation! Although, I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to pick Errett out as easily as we had the day before. They weren't in the same order as they had been Thursday morning. Regardless, it was a beautiful ceremony. I loved hearing the Marines respond to their Drill Instructors (you can't call them Sergeants or they'll kick your butt), and I love watching the move. Everything was just so perfect! After they were dismissed, which by the way, was the most artful form of dismissal I have ever seen in my life...Errett made his way over to us, anxious and eager to leave.

What was the first meal he wanted after Boot Camp?

IHOP (yes, the International House of Pancakes)

What was the last meal he wanted before he left for Boot Camp?

IHOP

I guess you could say that we like IHOP. We choose it for every occasion. We're not redneck though, so don't hate.

Anyway, we finally got home late Friday night and had a pizza party for him that he had requested in previous letters to us. He had also requested a cookie cake, which we also had. He was glad to be home, no doubt. Yesterday, he put on his Dress Blues for church. By far, my favorite uniform, although, he did skip the coat because...well, it was 80 degrees and it's made out of wool.

This whole experience has been inspirational to us all. Paul is even seriously considering joining the Marine Corps himself. It's something that I could definitely see him doing, but it's also something we need to think and pray about. I mean, we have a family. It would be a lot harder, but it would be way worth it.

I took nearly 300 pictures, and since I couldn't show them all to you, I will be uploading them to my flickr account and I'll let you know when they're up so you can have a lookie! Thanks for patient with me, and I hope that things can get back to normal. I'm supposed to start p90x today, but I have so much to get caught up on...I'm thinking about putting it off another week. We shall see though. I hope you all had a wonderful week/weekend.