I'm sure there are families that would just breeze through a 13 hour one-way trip in the car as if it were as easy as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'm sure these families also regularly drive across the surface of the moon in their sugar-powered space cars to pick up their pet dinosaurs from the galactic pet groomers. But here in this universe, that is one long car ride, I don't care who you're with. The trip to Parris Island wasn't so bad on the way out, in the daylight. But on the way back, as we drove across Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi from 5:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., on a route that included one of dad's famous "shortcuts" to avoid driving through Atlanta, a level of delerium was reached in that Chevy Suburban that I hope never to experience again. Mom and I collapsed into hysterical laughter over absolutely nothing around 2 a.m. in the highly questionable bathroom of an equally-questionable gas station in Alabama. It's laugh or fall asleep at the wheel. So we laughed.
Aside from the trip back, the rest of the Parris Island invasion went very well. Dad and Hannah and Audrey and I arrived in Savannah at about 10 p.m., just in time to pick up Aaron, Kelly and Mom from the airport. It was so good to see them. Aaron really looks great, in spite of being thinner than I've seen him in a long time. He's even got this chic hollowed out cheeks look going. If you're familiar with our family at all, you know we have cheeks of a size that defies explanation, so I take that as a sign that Aaron has really lost some weight. Although I'm sure I'd lose weight, too, if I had to eat hospital food.
On Thursday morning, we loaded up and went to Family Day, where the new Marines are presented with their Eagle, Globe and Anchors and then given liberty for about 6 hours to go out with their families. This is when the surreality started. I mentioned that we had been told that we were going to be seated in some sort of VIP area. What they didn't tell us was that the story of Ryan enlisting after Aaron was on his way to Iraq and then Aaron being injured but still making it to Ryan's graduation from basic training had taken on a life of its own, circulating through the Marine world at a rapid pace. The result was that every third person we encountered, it seemed, knew who we were. We did, indeed, sit in VIP seating, where we met some actual VIPs, including Brigadier General Richard Tryon, the commanding officer for Parris Island and various other military officials all of whom were very, very kind to us. Then the recruits started marching in, and we started looking for Ryan. We eventually picked him out of the crowd, although we were somewhat thrown off by the military-issued glasses he was wearing, which were not flattering to say the least. Check them out:

Because Ryan is going to absolutely kill me when he finds out I put that photo up, here is a photo of him with his usual contact lenses restored. He's very, very handsome, ladies.

We got to hug Ryan and were standing around talking when the boys started being approached by reporters. It was kind of fun for me, as a reporter, to stand back and watch other people do what I do all the time. We were there for an hour while the boys did interviews for print, television and radio media outlets. For some reason, we all kept taking pictures while this was going on. I'm sure the TV people wanted to choke us for making their footage look like there was a strobe light pulsating in the background the whole time. But take it from me, you can't choke the family of the people you're interviewing, so we survived. Then we were sent over to the Public Affairs office for the Island, and the boys did an interview and photos for their newspaper as well. The public affairs officer who conducted the interview is planning to let us know how we can see copies of that article when it comes out ... the others we have no idea about, but we'll give you all links to them if we find out how.
Before we left the offices, we also met the Marine mascot bulldog. Here are Kelly and Audrey instructing the dog on how to salute them.

Then, I am pleased to report, we went out and ate some of the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life. Say what you want about our family, but we take our eating very seriously, and I think the people at the place we went called Traditions probably wished they had charged us a more extravagant fee when they saw the sheer volume of food we consumed, all while talking. It was a shocking display of bad manners, and it was great fun. We learned that on the rifle range, Ryan scored high enough to be a "Rifle Expert," the highest score ranking, I think. When Aaron was in basic training, he scored one level below that. I find it amusing that in spite of their apparently deadly shooting skills, the boys and Dad have come home empty-handed from the majority of their deer hunts over the years.
Then Ryan had to go back to his barracks (is that the right word, Marine people?) for the night and we all went back to our hotel. After taking naps that we really, really needed, most of us gathered up in one of the hotel rooms and talked for a long time. It was really encouraging to me to talk to Aaron. I'm the only one who hadn't so far, besides Ryan, so it was really good for me. He is doing very well, like I've been telling all of you, but it was nice to see that for myself. I also had fun with Kelly, because we always laugh together. I'm very impressed that Kelly has kept up her sense of humor in spite of joining our family. Perhaps we give her more material for humorous thoughts.
On Friday morning, we went to Ryan's official graduation ceremony, which was quite impressive. I've only personally been to one or two major military ceremonies in my life, and it always amazes me how they manage to get so many people to do the same thing all at once. A lot of practice, I suppose. Here are some photos we took after the graduation.

Aaron and Ryan

A very suspicious group of people: Aaron, Ryan, Audrey, Hannah, and Haley.

Since the boys looked so very handsome and manly, we had them pose for a few photos. Here is one of those photos: Notice their very serious Marine-like expressions.

And, finally, the whole family, minus my husband Dan. A beautiful sight to behold, if I do say so myself.

Also as part of the celebrity treatment, several former drill instructors of Aaron's and other DIs on the Island asked Aaron to speak to their current platoons of recruits about his experiences in Iraq. Aaron gave them what was really a very good speech considering that the first one he was asked to do was very impromptu. By the third speech, he had it down to a science, and really told the recruits some good things about how what they are learning in basic will be important in a combat situation. Aaron was really honored to be asked, and I think he enjoyed the opportunity to make recruits yell "Aye, Sir!" at him repeatedly until he was convinced that they had screamed as loud as was humanly possible.
You can see from the photos that the trip was a lot of fun, and well worth the long drive. We're all so proud of Ryan, and it was so good to have the whole family together. We are thankful to the folks at Parris Island for making us feel so welcome, and to all of y'all for praying for our safe travel. I'm hoping to talk to Aaron later tonight and found out how his day went, but I'm sure I've posted more than enough material here to keep you busy reading for a long time. Until tomorrow, then. Goodnight.