Posted by Fran Kent on September 3, 2008, 12:54 pm
Ron: Your mini-essay on life and its surprises should stand alone, so I won't detract from it by putting this up along with it. Your pride in your son is justified, especially at a time when young people seem to be intent on scrapping many of the values of earlier generations. Young men profit, I think, from being exposed to a bit of discipline. I grew up in the Navy, literally, and I'm grateful for it. The Lord knows what might have become of me had I not enlisted when I did. May your son graduate with honors and enjoy a satisfying career in the Merchant Navy.
Re: Surprises
Posted by mike on September 3, 2008, 7:31 pm, in reply to "Surprises"
Ron: Congratulations for your son, you, and the family. As I mentioned in a post yesterday my son went through the same transformation for the last 8 weeks at Navy bootcamp Great Lakes. All of the things I was not able to get him to do for the last 18 years, the Navy has him doing in 8 weeks. They will always be our son's but our boys are becoming men real fast. I would like to tell a short story from this weekend and maybe you can tell if this happened to you yet. While in Chicago for the graduation I took my son to a Cubs game. As we have all heard thousands of times the announcer asked for us to rise for the National Anthem. As my middle age body started to stand I started to look for the American flag as I have never been to Wrigley field. Before my back even straitened up my son was at attention holding a salute to the flag. I actually found the flag by looking in the direction of his salute. I have to say I had one eye on the flag and one eye on my son. Not a muscle moved, not a blink of an eye. As at most sporting events when the last verse starts the crowd starts to clap and cheer. Becoming louder and louder. He held that perfect salute until the Anthem ended and did not relaese until about 3 seconds until after it was over. It did not matter that 42,000 other people were clapping, cheering, whistling and high fives. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to see excited people. But for the first time I think it changed from the "song" you sing before you play ball to our "National Anthem" that gets the same respect and pride as the flag and country. PS- My Dad was stationed at Fort Schuyler from 1958 until 1963 when he retired after 20 years of Navy service. May your son have a long and healthy maritime career.