Leavin' on a jet plane

Well, I'm just about out of here. I have to be at a hotel downtown in a few hours, and then in the morning I'm off to Texas. I know I haven't posted lately, so I'll bring you up to speed on the weeks events. Last Saturday my Aunt Susie threw a great party for me at her house. Great food and an awesome time visiting with my family. Later that night my big sis Nicolette (Nicole to you) had a giant party over at her place with about twenty or thirty of my friends and family. We blasted music and did a little drinking (I did quite a bit too much drinking to be honest) until early morning. Aside from a little self inflicted drama, I had a great time. On Monday my unit had a mobilization ceremony. It was just alright. The microphone kept cutting out and a few of the "distinguished" speakers had a real hard time reading their own speeches. But it wasn't the ceremony that was important, it was having my family there to support me. I had a tough time doing it, but I managed to keep a smile on my face almost the whole time. My mother and sisters weren't so lucky. Making girls cry sucks. A news woman, no doubt attracted by the sight of my mom's tears, came over and interviewed several of us for quite awhile. I'm not sure if any of it made it to TV though. Last night I went to our usual Tuesday hangout, Tryon Bar. For more than a year now, my friends and I have been going to Tryon ever Tuesday night. We usually have anywhere between 10 to 25 people there on any given week. I showed up pretty late last night, and from the looks of it everyone there had a hell of a head start on me. I have some amazing friends, and it was great to spend one last Tuesday with them. A few of them a a pretty hard time keeping from crying, but by now I'm pretty good at keeping it light. It's strange. I only have a few more hours of freedom left and it still hasn't hit me that I'm about to leave my home for a very long time. It's been setting in for my friends and family for a few weeks now, and I think they understand better than I do that I'm about to go to a pretty awful place. I have a feeling that it's going to dawn on my when I say my final goodbye. I love all of these people so much, and it's going to be very hard for me to get by without them nearby. That's what I remember most about four months of Basic Training. The hardest part by far is leaving all of them behind. I hope they all now how much I love them and that I'll think of them daily. Well, Meghan just got here to cook me my last meal as a free man. I send my love to all of you and I'll see you again before you know it.