Airman

So, I mentioned in an earlier post that my oldest stepson, Kris, was gone to the Air Force. He left right after Mother’s Day, May 20th, for Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. That changed our lives forever.  His decision set off a chain of events that we never expected. 

First of all, that meant we needed to start planning for our trip to his graduation over 2,000 milesaway to Lackland AFB in Texas. My husband flew for the first time to Ontario for work, but I’ve never been. And I don’t think my little 4-seater flight really counts. 

Kris also fell in love with a great gal who has a 4-year-old boy, who we’ve quickly become attached to. So long story short, they’re getting married right after his graduation. We’ll be gaining a daughter-in-law and a grandson.  

We’re excited to see Kris in a couple of weeks, but it will be bittersweet because when we leave on Monday he’s leaving for Florida for 10 weeks of training. It kind of makes the 8 1/2 weeks of basic training seem like nothing. However, this time we’ll be able to at least call him or even videochat with Kris, so we won’t have the radio silence we’ve had all this time. 

Sadly, though, his brother, Kam, missed out on having his brother around for his big moments. Kam’s 18th Birthday was the day after Kris’ swearing and the weekend after was Kam’s prom. Then two weeks later was Kam’s high school graduation. All of the moments Kam got to see his brother experience Kam didn’t have his brother thereto witness his. 

In the meantime I’ve spent a small fortune on an app called Sandboxx, which is created by the military that allows families and friends to send letters much quicker, along with a photo, to their airman.  $4 a letter, but it’s easy to do and they print out a photo for them along with your letter, and they also provide the airman with a self addressed and self stamped envelope for their convenience. So I made sure to write him often and talk about what’s going on with us, and send meaningful pictures, too. 

We’re now 13 days before we leave to take the flight, which is a 6-hour drive just to the airport. I have to learn how to pack appropriately and for 7 days. I’m pretty anxious about the flying part, but fortunately my future daughter-in-law has flown many times before and can help guide me.  I’ve been told it’s no big deal and that I’ll actually enjoy it, so we’ll see.   I’ll keep you all posted. 

Kindness of Strangers

So, as I've explained in my last post, my sister is dealing with cancer.  Throughout her ordeal, she wanted to stay as private as possible. She didn't want pity.  She didn't want the questioning looks.  She didn't want the attention.  Fortunately, she's gotten over that. 

While she was pregnant and going through her chemo (only during the 2nd trimester), she was working for a car dealership.   She was floored when she was approached by her boss and told that she was running out of sick time.  She thought she was going to be losing her job.  Instead, her boss told her that not only was the dealership going to cover her missed time, but they did a fundraiser and donated all of the money to her and her family. 

When she learned last week that she was facing a double mastectomy and then 5-6 weeks of daily doses of aggressive radiation, hours away from home, she agreed to let me do a gofundme page.  Within 3 days we raised over $800!!  Not only that, but her landlord approached them and offered to cut their rent cost in half for the next two months to make things a little easier on them.  Plus a long-time friend reached out and donated money as well. 

So, for a person who wanted to keep things to herself, she's realizing the power of reaching out to others and being ok with receiving help.  And I am excited to know that people out there care about her and are willing to help.  Kind of puts back our faith in humanity.