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In one of my recent columns, I discussed how our son Griffin had made the selfless decision to answer our Nation’s call to become a United States Marine.
Well, I can now report he has officially left us and traveled to Parris Island, South Carolina.
We saw him off on Monday, June 23.
We were blessed enough to be there at the recruiter’s office with another family we know who were also saying bye to their amazing son.
The odds of having two teenagers from our area that attended elementary school together shipping out on the same exact day really is something you can’t make up no matter how hard you try.
As we approached the final day and hours before our son left us for boot camp, we experienced some memorable moments that made all of us awestruck.
The highlight of everything was on Monday morning.
Credit to my wife for acting on an idea given to her by a dear friend.
Basically, what happened was on Friday, the 20th, she solicited the help of Griffin’s little brothers, Gram and Grant.
My wife purchased small American flags and wrote a message about how our son had grown up on our street and how it would mean a lot to him if everyone could put the flags out by their mailboxes to show their support for him.
No one shared this secret with Griffin and as we approached his departure day it was unclear as to how many people would participate in seeing him off our street.
While the neighborhood Facebook group of which we are members tipped us off to how we could expect several people to put out flags, it didn’t prepare us for the scene that unfolded that morning.
As scheduled, everyone got ready, and we headed to our van around 8:15 a.m. We were quickly met by our neighbors from across the street who were there to hug and wish Griffin good luck waving their flags.
That scene was touching enough, but what happened next was beyond remarkable.
After backing out the driveway not only could we see small flags adorning mailboxes in the distance, but we saw families, both young and old, standing by the street holding American flags and homemade posters with Griffin’s name on it.
As we slowly drove down the street, we thanked everyone for their support.
Griffin teared up and kept saying, “This is amazing!”
It is and was just that – amazing!
The love and support our street poured on to our son was beyond beautiful.
It brought us all to tears.
The truth is our son is now engaging in unquestionably the most grueling boot camp the military has to offer.
Marine boot camp stretches 13 weeks and tests recruits mental as well as physical stamina.
There is no ability for Griffin and his fellow Marine recruits to call us. We must rely solely on letters to communicate with our son. In case you are wondering, yes, we are eagerly awaiting that first one.
Everyone of those young men and women at boot camp will be pushed to their breaking point.
They will all have moments of self-doubt and thoughts of what was I thinking doing this, etc.
God-willing they all reach the finish line without incident, but to get there they will need to rely on not only themselves, but their brothers and sisters in their platoons.
I have it my head that when he needs it most, the visuals of that ride down Brandywine Boulevard will aid our son during this journey of his to join the ranks of the few, the proud, the Marines.
We appreciate any prayers that can be offered up for our son and all the many wonderful men and women who previously, currently, and/or who are working toward serving our country in the future!
