Week 1 in the books!

R came home on Friday afternoon somewhere around 1800 for a little over 48 glorious hours. I spent all Thursday and Friday cleaning up the apartment and getting dinner ready for his first meal home (homemade chicken breast nuggets, my healthy answer to his childhood obsession with fast food). He was so excited to tell me about how his week went and it was so nice to finally get face to face conversation.

• First off, he shaved his mustache! For the first time in his life!
• They had their first classroom test on Friday (R said he felt like he did well) 
• They also had their first run on Friday (R said he could have done better)
• R sweats so much, he's been recommended to wear 3 undershirts.
• He noticed how foreign it felt to drive home from the academy on Friday, since they don't drive all week.
• He also said he knew some cadets flew home or even drove home all the way to San Diego. 
• All the cadets are called by their last name
• Both of his roommates are nice and have 2 kids each. (Kudos to any of the families who go through this with children, I seriously tip my hats to you.) They were texting each other during liberty, which I thought was sweet. 
• He said one of the things that gets him through the week is when the officers say, "This isn't the job, this is just training for the job," to keep them from giving up.
• He said by far, the best way to reach him is via text message. He has difficulty checking voicemails or doing any form of social media until the weekend, but texts he can usually read that night.

There were obviously parts I can't share but for the most part, it seemed like an eventful week. He was so relieved to be home and he slept quite a bit. 

To head back to the academy, we had to pick up some more items he needed. We got more undershirts (they recommend the Kirkland brand ones from Costco because the collar sits up right up against the neck), 3 of those pop-up air fresheners for their dorm, a pair of nail clippers (to trim loose strings off his uniform), a 3 ring binder, hand sanitizer and other miscellaneous stuff. We also picked up stencils to label his shirts. We had to stencil 6 "marshmallow" shirts, and 1 PT shirt. He got a recommendation to make a stencil of his whole name, so that he could just copy it over and over (rather than placing the stencils on every shirt every time). It surprisingly took quite a bit of time, so for future cadets, I recommend you start this as soon as you get home Friday.

Sunday was difficult as expected. More difficult for R than it was for me, since he knew what he was coming back to this time around. We talked about how temporary this situation was, and that we had to take it a day at a time, which would hopefully help the weeks pass as quickly as possible. I made sure he knew this was something we both wanted and that I was proud of all the effort he was putting in. I reassured him of how well supported I was by our loved ones, especially our families. He left energized but also eager for the next weekend to come around again.

So that ends week 1! Only 27 more to go...