Letters...

Well, the new year is off to a bang. I made chicken and dumplings for dinner, a new recipe, and then David and Regan spent the night throwing up. They were convinced I had poisoned them. I was fine until morning and by then I figured it was a stomach virus. I have had a bad cough for a few days, and then the stomach thing hit, then fever, chills, it's been fun around here. I don't think any of us ate anything for the last 24 hours. Regan ate a bite of banana and couldn't even keep that down.

And to top it off, David managed to practically crawl down to the mailbox to see if we had a letter from Riley yet, and we did, there were 2 of them, from day 2 and 3 of training. If possible, I felt worse after reading them! He said he hated it, he had been throwing up too cause the food was so bad, he cried on the plane, he sprained his wrist (the medic said so, he wasn't making it up), the bed was uncomfortable, he wanted us to call them and let him leave early, he would pay us back for all the money we spent on Sea Cadets, he didn't want to even be in Sea Cadets anymore! It was 4 pages front and back of pure misery. I almost cried. I felt so bad, and there's nothing we can do at this point! They told us to expect the first letter or two to be that way but they will get better. I wasn't sure. He sounded terrible and unhappy and I was thinking I'm the worst mom in the world for letting him go, I should know better, my poor baby bird!

But then today, David checked the mail again (we're feeling marginally better, able to eat again at least and no more fever, so thankfully it must have just been a 24 hour thing, although I still have a nasty cough). We got another letter, this time it was MUCH better! He wrote it at 4:30am California time, from class, so he's getting up bright and early! He said the food was getting better "You know you've been here too long when the eggs taste good"! and his company won the ribbon for most improvement! He said he misses his bed and his heated blanket, but he is still wanting to do SEAL and JSOC training, so he hasn't given up! I feel much better. And he will be home tomorrow, before we know it. I can't wait, I've really missed him!