Parent's Weekend Ramblings

Well, Parent's Weekend was a wild ride, wasn't it?

I have to admit that I went into the weekend a little anxious and apprehensive. I read a lot, warning how my cadet will probably just want to sleep, let your cadet lead the way, don't stay too close to the Academy, don't stay too far...etc. I also travelled to Colorado already dreading the good bye. But, I resolved to just take each moment as it came, and try to enjoy every drop.

We got up SO DANG EARLY Friday morning, to catch a 6am flight. We being myself, husband (you remember the ostrich?), my daughter Ellie, and my son Jacob.

Flying went without a hitch, and we arrived in Denver a little past 9am. Yes, it would have been lovely to fly in Thursday night and have the whole day Friday at the Academy, but time and finances wouldn't allow it. We got our luggage, our shuttle ride to the rental cars, and our car...and we were on our way!

Uh...this road doesn't look familiar AT ALL!! Are we going the right way? Look at the map, husband says. For one, I can't read in the car without getting sick, and for two, the map makes no sense at all. Why can't you read the map, he asks/screams? I don't know why, I screech! Can you tell that we just want to get to SpaceGirl at this point, and are already frustrated? Hmmm...

Husband pulls over, we ask someone...many someones, and finally realize that we are in fact going the right way. The problem lies in that we took the 470 toll road, which is a different way then we came in back in April, for Orientation, which is why it is all foreign.

Ok...we are going now. Phone rings...it's SpaceGirl...Where are you?? Driving from Denver just as fast as we can. Where's your phone, don't recognize this number? Oh, my element leader can't find my phone, so I borrowed one. Which means we can't call when we get there, since this number will be long gone by that time. it's all good, we will meet where we decided, see you in an hour.

Long story short for the getting there...parked way far away...walked in circles...can't get to where we wanted to meet since it's in a restricted area and we don't have our SpaceGirl yet...get another call...find our girl...and watched the best reunion between big sister and little brother that you ever did see, with both running towards each other, arms stretched out. So precious! Big hugs all around.

Ran to lunch...by now it's almost noon and lunch is half over. Ran to dorm, to get backpack to run to class. Boy, do they do this every day???

Went to Calculus 2 and Russian with SpaceGirl. Didn't understand a word in either!! Geez, when did my girl get so dang smart? Probably somewhere back in fifth grade!

After the open house, drove to hotel, dinner out (cow requested by SpaceGirl) and had a good time. Rented a movie in hotel for first night.

Saturday...what can I say? WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE, but fun all the same. With all those folks, who do we run into but RaptorDad and his lovely wife. Hi Dave and Jeri! Football game was nice, parachuters gave me chills, flyover gave my husband goosebumps. Long...hot day. Didn't quite plan for the warmth in Colorado. Cancelled plans that we had for Saturday night, easy dinner, stayed in hotel for the night.

Sunday was nice...didn't have to get up too early, went to a fabulous breakfast out, then went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. If you've never been, you have to go. Lots of walking, but well worth it. Was blown away with how many people came up to SpaceGirl, and honestly thanked her for serving her country. Or just simply asked her questions about the Academy. Made my heart swell with pride each and every time.

Sunday night we met up with SpaceGirl's sponsor family for dinnner. They couldn't have been nicer, even offering to drive her to and from the airport when goig home on leave, and offering up their house next Parent's weekend. Dad is a graduate of the Academy, and works in the Aerospace field, which is just where SpaceGirl wants to be. Great fit.

Monday we let SpaceGirl sleep in while we packed up the room, went to breakfast, then went to see a movie...Harry Potter. I never saw anyone so happy to see popcorn in my life...glad you enjoyed it, SpaceGirl!!!
Then it was off to a late lunch (boy can that girl eat?!?), and back to the Academy.

Oh, and that phone that was lost? Husband found it in her "civilian" backpack from In-Processing, she had it all along! With isolation and all, she didn't even realize that she had it. OOPS!

Oh, I forgot, somewhere in there...was it Saturday or Sunday?, we took SpaceGirl shopping at WalMart for the printer, cleaning supplies, snacks, "smokers"...you name it, it made it's way into our cart!

So, when at the Academy on Monday, we had many supplies to lug in and set up in her dorm. The printer is all set up...but, wait, did you buy an USB cord? Uh, no. Shucks! Poor SpaceGirl puts back on her coat, hat and gloves...we trek all the way over to the cadet store...but NO, they are closed for Labor Day. Of course. So we leave her printer almost 100% set up, with a promise to mail her a cord.

At this point, SpaceGirl adopted what husband calls her "fight or flight" attitude. Basically, she was grouchy, and we were tired of trekking around. And, to be honest, she just wanted to put on her comfy clothes and let her hair down...but couldn't until we left, since she'd have to put on her blues again when she escorted us out.

We made the wise decision to just have her walk us to the car, and say good bye a little earlier than originally planned. This is where the "let your cadet set the mood/pace of the weekend" advice came in handy. We hugged, we kissed, we cried.

Actually, sadly, hubby and I pretty much cried the whole trip to Denver. He was trying to be sly about it...wiping his tears as they fell, acting like he had something in his eye. I openly bawled, I will admit. Nothing sly about it.

There was a beautiful rainbow, sometimes a double, that we could see out our car window, almost the whole ride into Denver. It's like it was saying "cheer up! She's ok", but we cried anyways.

All in all...great weekend, so many hugs, so many laughs...but saying goodbye was really, really hard. As expected.