Military Family Appreciation Month

Mother Goose is happy and proud to announce that November is Military Family Appreciation Month all across America!

And so, because I am such a proud and patriotic goose, I will be featuring a different military family to salute for each time that I post up in November. [I was going to say “everyday in November” but you know that Mother Goose just cannot make those kinds of daily promises…]

And because I’m a rather self-promoting goose, for this first post in November, I will feature and salute my own family!

Honestly, when my twin sons announced to me in 2010 that they would be joining the service, my heart stopped and my face fell. They completely blindsided me! What were they thinking? Would they be OK? How would I live without daily contact with my young sons?

Our family was going through such a crisis at the time. Their father and I had divorced, and I was planning to remarry and move the kids to a new place of residence in a distant village. We were facing major upheavals in every corner of our world. The guys had completed nearly two years of college, and I was just assuming stability — that they would continue down that educational path.

“Mom, I’m going to join the service,” Erik’s voice still echoes around in my feathery head.

There was a scared and shocked look spreading from my face to all the rest of my motherly body but my immediate answer was this: “Well, please not the Marines or the Army…maybe the Coast Guard or the Navy would be OK?”

A week later, Adam said to me, “Well, of course, I’m joining the Navy too, Mom!”

And that’s how our military family story began.

The guys had a delayed enlistment into boot camp so for the next eight months they met frequently with their recruiter for physical training sessions as well as some good ol’ Navy background informational meetings.

And then we started to have “Going Away Parties” for the guys.

And then the day came when Adam had to leave for Basic Training…

We had been prepared for separation anxiety, but nothing prepared me for the sight of him walking away from our car and into his future as a sailor in the greatest Navy in the world.

There were tears galore.

In all of our eyes.

And then one week later, we dropped off Erik at the same location, and the tears started up all over again.

Tomorrow I will tell you the little story about how our family became military — twin sons at Naval Station Great Lakes for eight weeks will do that to you.