hello to all hope everyone is well

Sharon - posted on 06/06/2009

hi sheila hope you are well i havent heard from you i hope you and your family are well.is everything ok with your son?is he going to come home for his break soon?billy will be home in october for two weeks! i cant wait im so excited! ive sent him two packages and im trying to make sure ge gets a package every two weeks if i can manage it.im looking forward to two weeks off of work soon,my boss is closing the office going on vacation so all of us girls are excited ! im looking forward to spending some time with my best friend in the pennsylvania area and hanging out with my girls! i hope all is well with you sheila hope to hear from you soon take care!

Sharon - posted on 05/20/2009

hi sheila i hope you and your family are well ive been thinking of you and keeping you in my prayers.have a great memorial day weekend and i hope to hear from you soon.take care!

Sharon - posted on 05/14/2009

hi sheila sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you.i wanted to say thanks for the great idea about the packages and sending fun stuff i took your advice and added water balloons to his package and nerf footballs that you can get wet and throw around!billy loves football so i thought that would make him happy. im sending the first package today and i am excited to finally have an address for him.he is settled into al-kut now and he has a work schedule and i think he is feeling pretty good.he is a door gunner on helicopter and he works 10 hour days doing alot of transporting and he sure does love to be in the air.in his free time he works out runs alot. he played foot ball for 8 years and ran track while in high school so keeping fit is important to him and im glad for that but i have to tell you he didnt get that from me!hahaha.im feeling a little better about the whole situation although ill sit in my car on my lunch break from work and have to cry for a few but i have to tell you its a combination of worrying about him and a little of knowing he is all grown up and he will be making his way threw life now on his own and my time of raising him and living with him is over. i know its the way its suppose to be but its a little hard to let them go like that.you know what i mean? i still have my girls at home which is good but my oldest will be making her own way soon too.id love to hear about you and if you work and what your husband does and about your other kids.i am 39 years old and this is my second marriage my husband alan and i have been married for 12 years and i couldnt have wished for anything better he is wonderful and handsome so that makes it all the better!he is a professional painter and has been for 14 years,i am a dental assistant and have been for 7 years.i love to scrapbook and listen to music and when its just me in my car im a singer too! hahaha what are some of your interests? well sheila i hope to hear from you soon hope all is well with you and your family and as always i am praying for our boys!take care.

Sheila - posted on 05/06/2009

Hi Sharon. The first thing I want you to know is that you ARE NOT alone! Moms tend to worry more than Dads to it seems. You know, it's "their boy, their man" and he is strong. Well, my son is strong and he is a man, but he is still my baby boy no matter how many times you slice and dice it. I think you know what I'm talking about. I have an older son that is 24 that was supposed to be in the Army but 6 weeks from leaving he was in a head-on car accident and he couldn't go. He is now very happy to be living his life through his 22 year old brother and giving him all the love and support he needs from back home here. If Billy has a computer with him, my best advice is to install Yahoo Messenger as a means to talk to him when he is off duty. My sons schedule is 24 hours on and 24 hours off and in between if he is bored he will volunteer an extra 12 hours, so sometimes that makes his shift 36 hours long. He is doing it to keep his mind busy and "to the task at hand" and also because he knows that will get him home sooner for those 2 short weeks in July. Also, care packages! Send as many as you can and with the silliest things in them. My beautiful daughter-in-law has my son growing a garden in Afghanistan...yes, a garden...lol. She has him growing her favorite flowers, Sunflowers, and she is also doing it here at home and they take pictures every week and send them to each other. He is actually enjoying it and it helps pass the time. I'm trying to get "silly string" passed through a care package box with the post office because it is one of my sons favorite things and afterall, they do need to have some fun while there as well. Matt reports that the "natives" are getting restless now that winter is over in that region. They tend to hide in caves during the winter and then are drawn out from the heat. So, he is starting to see some action. As much as I should be worried, and believe me I am, I know my son and he has a very good head on his shoulders. He has been trained by the best of the best. What is Billy's MOS? My Matt is a "Tactical Data Systems Specialist/Field Artillery. He is also a Paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Bragg, NC, however, he is on loan to the 101st Airborne while in Afghanistan, which I hear is an honor. He has had 3 promotions since arriving there in January. I am so very, very proud of him, as I am also of your son Billy. Any chance you get, whether it be just talking to people personally or on the computer, they all need to know and understand what these brave men and women are putting their lives on the line to defend our freedom and to NEVER have another 9/11 happen to our America again! I am a very big advocate when it comes to the Military and am not ashamed of our colors. If you have a MySpace page, you can find me at JerzeeGirl6059/myspace.com. I look forward to keeping in touch with you Sharon and swapping our stories of our 2 courageous sons. Thanks again for replying.

Sharon - posted on 05/05/2009

Hi Sheila thank you so much for responding! im so excited to finally talk to another mom in my situation.my son is in al-kut iraq and we are only three weeks in and i am having a hard time trying to settle into it ya know.i hate it thats hes so far away and the time difference is hard.he is in the national guard army and we are from cape may new jersey. i also have 2 girls. billy is 20 and my girls are 18 and 11.we all miss him very much but we are a close family and we do our best to stay positive and it sounds like you do too.i cant tell you how much it means to me to talk to you because it just makes me happy to know some one else "gets it". sheila im hoping my daughter will help me post pictures soon so you can see what we look like! i hope to chat with you soon take care .

Sheila - posted on 05/04/2009

Hi Sharon. My name is Sheila and I too have a son in the Military (Army) and he has been in Afghanistan since January. He will be home on a 2 week leave in July and then goes back to Afghan until January. He went ahead and re-enlisted while deployed so he already has another deployment set for next April. My son joined 2 years ago and although we live in Florida, he is stationed at Fort Bragg, NC....we made many trips there to see him and he came home alot for vacations and such. This deployment is very hard, especially on his new wife of only 9 months. She chose to leave Fort Bragg and come home to Florida where all her family and friends are. Her and I support each other as much as possible, but she knows that as his mother my heart cries for him and I understand that as his wife, she is doing the same. There is a light at the end of all of this and our sons will come home to us safe and sound Sharon. We must show all these men and women in the Military that we support them and we continue to pray for them daily for their safe return home after their mission is complete. If you ever want to talk, I am always here. I would love to swap stories with you and get to know your son Billy. Take care, Sheila