Welcome to the Team!

My mom sent me an e-mail the other day telling me that they had made it to "the gates of hell" (little does she know that hell is 5,000miles across the ocean where her daughter and husband sweat in the 79%humidity and 120 degree weather :/) safe and sound . Well, I'm sure the trip was anything but sound. I know how it is when those two are together... the laughs and girlish giggles (amazing for women of their vast maturity (ahem cough cough age)).

It seems like just yesterday my mom, dad, and brother had come to support me as I graduated my basic training. I was so excited as my family came to the field, late I might add. I was panicked as I couldn't find them. It was such a relief when I finally did, and my mom just hugged me. She was crying, and of course I wasn't. I'm tough for that shi... stuff. Ok fine. Maybe my eyes overflowethed a little bit. But any factors could have contributed to that.... Just saying.

What I remember the most though, was driving home in the backseat. I wasn't awake for much. I slept through well-over half the drive. But the few moments I was awake, I remember glaring at Josh. "STOP looking at me like that!" I would yell. He just kept staring at me with this lopsided grin. Then he had the audacity to eat his sandwich like a slob... with only one side of his mouth. He had taken this too far. Between the stares and the sandwich stains on his shirt, I was quickly reminded of how home would be.

It wasn't until his jaw started locking up that I started to feel a twinge of guilt. The hospital stop in Chicago, Illinois really did me in. As many of you know, Josh had gotten Lyme's disease which had resulted in his Bells Palsy. I remember him laying on the bed and pretending like he was dying. It doesn't sound funny, but me and Josh laughed so hard as my mom scolded us.I'm glad his face didn't stay like that.

I don't know why I just wrote all of that, probably because when think of Josh with his face all lopsided, it reminds me that things could always be worse. No, but really, in all reality, it reminds me of the fun me and Josh have. Even at the weirdest and most inconvenient times. It's hard to believe that my little brother who I used to playlegos and Lincoln logs with, the same brother that I could never make eye contact with in church for fear of bursting out in inappropriate laughter and the same brother with the lopsided face... just graduated from Basic Training. That he'll be turning the big 1-8 come September 5th. And that he's really my jumbo little brother now as he towers over me. I'm still stronger, smarter, funnier and better looking though, of course. But still...Congratulations little jumbo brother on graduating from Basic Training... with a straight face and all =] Welcome to the team!

<3 Jacki

I love you Mom.

We chose this life that we are living right now. We chose to sign our name on the line to a cause we believe in. We do three months of basic training, followed by however long AIT takes. We’ve chosen to miss birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, all in the name of a cause that we believe is more worthy than all of that… even more worthy than missed memories.

We choose this life, but for some, this life chooses them. For those that are chosen for this life, they watch as their loved ones sign their name on the line to a cause they may not yet believe in. They ship their loved ones off to basic training and write them countless letters. They anxiously await for their arrival home from AIT. They take one for the team and spend their birthdays, anniversaries, and even holidays with out their loved ones.

And yet, it’s the ones who walk into the battle knowing and accepting the fight that receive all the recognition. How often have you seen a story on an American hero, that wasn’t in uniform? How often do you see a mom who lost a husband, a daughter, and two sons receive a care package to let them know that they are cared for? That somebody believes that they are just as much a part of the fight for freedom?

It’s easy to take for granted the people who wait for me back home. To know that they are there for me when I call at odd hours of the night. To know that they will snap those pictures so I don’t miss out on a weekend at the cabin or a night out with the girls.

It’s harder to realize that those people didn’t ask for this. They are silent heroes, who bear a burden that they never asked for, but yet never complain. And this is for them. For those calls they’ve answered and for the unyielding support they have given to the soldiers. I ask that you keep them in mind when you think about American heroes.

(I love you Mom.)

<3 Me.