Revisiting THAT DAY

Immediately after your cadet leaves you standing in the white tent,

they enter Doolittle Hall

"where the Journey begins",

although we know it began a long time ago.

USAFA folk know that they need to keep parents busy

so they generously fill a conference room in Doolittle Hall

with coffee, muffins, cakes, water, punch, cookies,

and tables filling the room with brochures and information

that probably make some people feel better

by walking around collecting in plastic USAFA bags.

After spending some heavy time in the ladies room,

we wandered around the room aimlessly,

our new journey certainly without much clarity.

I had my sunglasses on as did many moms

and it was  one of the kids that pointed out that the cadets

who were upstairs inprocessing,

needed to come downstairs and we were in the right spot to see them.

 Slowly as parents realized this,

the book tables emptied and we all gathered around this stairwell

waiting....

 Nathan is unique in his stature

and okay well, his boots-

he never leaves home without them.

This spontaneous sighting was such a blessing.

 We had a visual that told us he was in a squadron

that wore green tags. 

Very important for future sightings

considering 1200 kids are being inprocessed for this class alone.

*** HE WAS SO CLOSE***

We all yelled something,

"go Nathan", "you can do this"

and all manner of sentimental phrases could be heard

as the cadets filed past.

 With help from the glass windows,

we could see where the cadets were all headed.

We know now, and would recommend to all parents of doolies

in future years: use this entire day to become amateur paparazzi

and STALK YOUR KID and don't stop until the sun goes down.

It provides a sense of purpose 

and keeps you from spending so much in the gift shop.

The room cleared out fairly quickly

as we realized that we could track our cadets.

We didn't know for how long,

or to where

but any sightings at this point was the goal.

We later learned that after walking out this door

we would not see them smiling for some time.

Still not sure what they were told,

but it worked.