Our Day at Lackland air Force Base

This morning we got up early and got dressed and ready to.. Alex had told us to be there early, but John didnt get how early. I told him early, cus there would be lots of people there and we wouldnt be able to find a place to park. I finally got him to decide to leave, and on the way out the front lobby i asked if they had a better map to get to the base, and they did. so we were off. the map she gave us took us directly to the front gate, but there was two so we had to go to the wrong one. that is what we do. we go the wrong way, have to turn around and do it again. this is our thing, and I wish we could stop, but we cant. oh well, we are both directionally impaired. Im used to it.

so we finally found our way to the location on base taht the families were supposed to gather and found a place tp park. we grabbed a bottle of water for each of us and headed back to the place where we coudl see our son for the first time in 8 weeks. there was a store there that was so packed with families of airmen, and i cant stand that, so i almost ran through that to get to the other side. we stood out at the curb and waited for the last run from the airmen. See the pics. It was hot at 9 am so we found some shade and waited. and waited.

then finally they came running over the bridge. lined in there lines and chanting some military marching chant. I didnt understnsd a word they said, I was busy searchng bobbing faces for my sons. they qwuickly ran past us and didnt see my sons face. then, they turned around, lineed up again, and ran past us again. then, searching frantically, I heard john call out Alex and i saw him for only a minute and he saw me. I had to tell myself to breath again. he looked so different, for only a second.

after that we went and listened to a few classes they had for the family and strolled around for a while. at 130 the coin ceremny would start, and then we could collect out son for the day. the new airmen are given a coin that symbolizes something to the airforce. they are supposed to carryt he coin with them at all atimes. its not s coin you can spend, but it si very nice looking. well we found our seats for the ceremony and waited forthe event in the covered seats in the heat.

the ceremony was really nice, i dotn want to go into everything cu this is getting really long, but that was a big part of the day. so after they released the airmen to the families, they just stod there in there at ease positions and had to wait for the families to find them. we walked in the direction we knew alex was asnd he found us first. I grabbed onto him and held on so tight. then i looked at his face and saw a different young man.

well, this is getting long and i dont want to bore you to death, as much as I want to write every little detail here. we found our car and went on a tour around the base.he couldnt leave. we went to the bx, and had chinese food. his first non militarty food in 8 weeksyou should have seen all the graduates there. that was the happiest place on earth today. every young man and lady wearing blue was smiling and congratulating each other today. yes sirs and mams were all over. seeing all those happy people was really the best.

anyway, after that, we drovr around the base some more. we did what ever alex wanted to do. and a few things that scareed the crap out of him. I swear we were in restricted areas. it was scary, but john just kept on driving. we fnally went and got a pizza for dinner and talked some more, then dropped alex off for the day. it was a great day and tomorrow we get to take him off base. we are going to the river walk. I will do this again tomorrow, hopefully not as long. see you then.