Emily headed down to Indianapolis with her recruiter and fellow recruits on Monday afternoon. Dave and I drove down a little later, picked Emily up from the hotel and took her out for a nice dinner, returned her and then drove home. On Tuesday morning we were up early to drive back to Indianapolis, we had to be at MEPS by eight thirty. Emily and her fellow recruits were up much earlier than us as they all had to report to MEPS by four thirty in the morning. MEPS stands for Military Entrance Processing Station. We hung around at MEPS for around five hours, the recruits have a final medical check, finalize contracts, are briefed on their travel arrangements, and are officially sworn in. Yesterday there were around fifty young people going through MEPS, each going into various branches of the military, and there were lots of moms and dads, siblings, friends and relatives there to see them all off. Around eleven the twenty Air Force recruits were called to the swearing in ceremony, shortly after family and friends were summoned to come watch. It is quite moving to see these young adults swear in and commit themselves to serving their country. A little bit later all parents and family were asked to line up outside along the sidewalk, fortunately the weather was very mild, and we waited for all of the recruits to come out. We were able to give Emily a quick hug, tell her we love her and that we wished her well and whammo blammo she was on the bus and ready to go to the airport. As we walked back to our car it was strange, we will miss Emily but it is hard to feel sad because she is so excited and so satisfied with her decision to join the Air Force.
After seeing Emily off we started back home, since we would be driving by Muncie we decided to pop in and see Ben and his girlfriend Autumn. We called Ben, he had just left class and did not have his next class until two, so we met up with the two of them at a Mexican restaurant, had a quick lunch and then followed Ben back to the place he is renting with a couple of friends. After the grand tour we followed the two of them over to the Ball State University campus, Ben had to go class so we left to go home.
Now it is just the two of us for the first time in twenty nine years, I feel at a bit of a loss, not in a sad way, just in a the future stretches ahead and is filled with possibilities where will life take us now sort of way. As I am the sort of person who tends to let life happen to me and go where it takes me I am up for the challenge :)
Here are some pictures from yesterday.
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| Emily after the swearing in ceremony. |
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| Dave and I with Emily |
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| Getting on the bus. |
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| Ben with Autumn at his rental duplex, he and his friend Roy live on the left side. |
