Reveille

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Angel and her boyfriend, Michael.

Angel with her very tall recruiter.

On Monday, March 11, 2013, my youngest child, Angel, began an adventure that will forever change her life. She left home to become the first member of my family to join the Coast Guard. It has been her dream to become a marine biologist since elementary school and she believes she will get closer to that goal by joining the military. She will spend the next two months in basic training in Cape May, NJ with more than 40 other recruits from around the country. If all goes according to plan, she will graduate from boot camp on May 3, come home for 5 days then ship out to the next phase of her training where she will spend the next several years.

Big brother goodbye bear hug

Although it can be difficult for some parents to let go of their children, I've never had that issue. I suppose it's because I don't think of it as letting them go. I think of it as letting them get on with what they have been trained to do, that is, to get on with their lives and become responsible, contributing adults. Sometimes that means they will be far away but I have faith that they will never stay away for too long before they make a pit stop at the old homestead. Distance can not sever the ties that bind.

And so it was that my youngest hatchling flew the coop, armed with a backpack filled with essentials and a bag of oatmeal raisin cookies that she and I baked in the wee hours of the morning. Her training requires that she be on a nearly total communications blackout for the first few weeks, and then only minimal written communications. For someone who lived connected to her cell phone, that may be a tall order but this is what she signed up for.

My baby is gone. A woman will take her place.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva