Day 1

Day one has already come and gone! Yesterday K and I woke up at the hotel around 5:30am to get him all suited up and ready to officially move to the academy. I did my best to get some food and coffee in him while he got ready, but he really can't eat when he is nervous, so he pretty much started off on an empty stomach...*cue my maternal instinctive worrying.* We triple checked his bag and papers, loaded up the car, and drove down the street at around 7am where we waited in a long line of cars filled with other nervous cadets.  Instructions were to arrive between 7:15 and 7:30, no earlier and no later, and after we made it through the line to the kiosk it was 7:16...perfect!

      

When we made it to the parking lot it was a quick goodbye. K jumped out of the car, pulled out his bag as I slide into the driver's seat, and gave me a kiss and goodbye through the window. I had to zoom in and it is still really blurry, but in that bottom picture you can see him walking towards check in, toting his controversial red duffle bag. We have seen video from day one and knew in advance the staff would be tossing the cadets' bags around in a big pile, making it difficult to distinguish between the many black bags. We were advised at K's division orientation last week to tie something on his bag to make it easy to find.  Since he already has a red one he thought he might as well bring it and deal with any potential consequences of standing out too much :)

After watching my handsome cadet walk off towards his impending day 1 doom, I drove back home and spent the whole day wondering what he was doing and when I'd be able to talk to him. I knew he probably wouldn't be able to call me until late--if he was able to call me at all--so I turned my ringer on high and went to sleep. At 10:51pm (or should I say 2251 hours?) my phone rang and it was K! I swear it felt like I hadn't talked to him in days even though I had just seen him that morning.  He had just gotten back to his room so they definitely had a long first day. We were only able to talk for four minutes, but he sounded so great. He said it was a long hard day, but "it actually wasn't that bad." Music to my ears after I had spent the day picturing the worst. One of his roommates is a re-tread which means he has been to the academy before but was unable to finish for whatever reason (failed a test, got hurt...). This was a huge answer to prayer! That means this guy will already know the ins and outs of academy life and will definitely be able to help K learn the ropes quickly.

I am so looking forward to his first weekend so I can hear about everything in more detail!

-D