From The Corner Of My Mind

* I am typing this from a hotel room in Columbus Georgia.
* For those of you not following along on Facebook, we are here to spend family days with W-stepson #3 that is currently in Basic Training at Fort Benning.
* We left Monday evening around 6pm and headed East. We spent the night in Monroe La. We got back on the road Tuesday morning and arrived here about 4pm ET.
* After freshening up a bit, we rode out to the Army base and looked around for the field that we needed to be early this morning. We found the barracks that our son was staying in, and some of the soldiers were out working out as we passed by. We nearly had to restrain W-spouse to keep her from jumping out and running up to them and start hugging them all till she found her baby.
* This morning we arrived early enough to get a good seat up front, but we were about 30 minutes too early. They wouldn't let us park, so we had to go sit in another parking lot and wait till they allowed us to go in. The start of the ceremony was slightly delayed because some of the families got confused about where to be, and we waited on them to arrive. Then the Commander gave the order, and here came the soldiers marching out, singing a cadence. It was a sight to behold and I can't tell you how proud I felt at that moment. After a brief ceremony and the soldiers putting on their black berets, they were released to their families. W-spouse took off in a dead run to hug her baby. We all exchanged hugs and we were all crying by the time it was over.
* Our soldier was hungry so we headed out to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. While there, people stopped by out table and thanked our soldier, and the man sitting at a table near us paid for Coles meal. I was very touched seeing this and for what he means to us and those around him.
* We then went back to the base and toured the Infantry Museum. That was really neat to see, and to get to see all the things that they do and the equipment that they use. After eating again at the restaurant at the Museum, we made our way back to the hotel to rest.
* Later on we went and all watched a movie together, the just released version of Red Dawn.
* It was back to the hotel to finally rest for the night.
* Tomorrow we will have Thanksgiving lunch together, either at the base, or a restaurant in town.
* Friday we will do some more touring around and then we will head back West on Friday.
* We found out today that our son will be headed to Hawaii after basic training. Looks like we will spend a few weeks out in the Pacific Ocean next summer!
* Have a happy Thanksgiving, see ya Around The Corner!