Zero hour approaches hard on my heels.
Yesterday was my last day at CRF for the season. It was an awesome day. If felt like someone turned on the "What are they gonna do, fire us?" sign, so thick were the jokes of...questionable content. Thanks, Lord Mayor. The weather was great (to my tastes, at least), the crowd wasn't overwhelming, the jousts were hilarious. Mandi and Sarah stuck out, with each of them playing their characters (Lady Luck and Lady Jillian, respectively) playing each other's character. So Lady Luck was dressed and acting as Lady Jillian and vice versa. This came to a head at the jousts, as each lady has a favorite knight, so each required themselves to cheer for the other's favorite. With pained expressions and forced enthusiasm. To people only there for that day, it was just two ladies being goofy (and awesomely so), but to the regulars and the cast, there were times it was hard to breath we were all laughing so hard. And that kind of levity carried over to the rest of the day.
The Royal Court this year is amazing. It reminds me of the court we had many years ago, but somehow better. We're a more cohesive group, we work well with and off of each other. The "core" I think is the trio of Mandi, Sarah, and Julie. Cin and Rick are certainly coming into their own, as well as our other new members. It's great to have Jeremy back as Bishop John Ringo, too. And Chris is really settling in as the King to Bettina's Queen. I cannot express how much I'm going to miss all of you guys. I hate I'm not going to be able to be with you guys for the rest of the season. But I'm looking forward to next season.
There's just not enough time to speak or write to all the people I want to before I ship out on Tuesday. For some there's just no words I can bring together ; letters started and deleted or thrown away or sitting, unsent. It's going to be a very trying time at Basic and AIT. I'll be able to write and (eventually) email/IM, but it's not the same and being able to attend a weekly game night or go to church with my friends and family. I will, at least, be able to go home for Christmas, but even then, there's a lot of people I don't imagine I'll get to see or speak with. There are a couple of cases where that leaves my heart heavy, but I imagine (hope, really) that I will be too busy (or tired more likely) to spend too much time in rumination.
I have no illusions that the next several weeks will be anything but extremely...challenging. You can spin it to more positive wording all you like, but Basic is going to open with me getting my ass handed to me, and hard. This is going to be grueling. I will persevere (it's kinda what I do), but I have accepted and come to terms with the fact that, at least for the first couple of weeks or so, my flabby weakness is going to be painfully obvious.
So write to me. Give me pages and pages to read. Keep me up to date with the day-to-day goings on back home. Send stamps. Lots of stamps. Pray for me(to what- or whomsoever you feel is best to send such an appeal to), sends positive thoughts, and/or think of me, so that I will get strong enough and tough enough not just to pass, but to excel. Because I will accept nothing less of myself in this endeavor but excellence. I want to come out of this in January as an Honors Graduate. I will have nothing less than a distinguished career in the Army, and I have to start from the very beginning.
Why do I set such high goals for myself? It is because of the inspiration provided by ALL those in my life who serve or have served. Chris, Justin, Harold, Kyle, Rayne, Phil, Shaun, Fox, Shane, Nathan, Ben, James. Two grandfathers, two step-grandfathers. Even (especially) one SPC Eckerd. I didn't set the bar, all of you did. Thank you.
I love you all. I'm going to miss all of you. Yes, even you. Especially you. I look forward to seeing some of you at Christmas. And I hope a whole mess of you will be able to see me graduate from Basic.
i am immortal, i have inside me blood of kings
