Good Bye, Airman Johnson

We got up early this morning so we could go to church with Nate. Autumn woke up and all the curls she had in her hair last night were gone this morning. She wanted Aunt Lexie to put some make up on her and put curlers in her hair again. I love her watching Lexie putting on her make up so longingly.

We went down to breakfast at 6:30 (right when it opens) and scarfed down some breakfast before leaving to go to the base. Autumn thought she was Miss Fancy Pants by having curlers in her hair at breakfast.

We got to the chapel on base at 7:20 (church started at 7:00), but we were going off of MST (Mormon Standard Time), so really we were right on time by being late. The men had priesthood meeting in the chapel and the women had Relief Society in a little conference room off to the side. Then it was time for sacrament meeting. They didn’t have anyone to play the piano and were just going to use a CD for the music to sing along to. There were actually a LOT of people there and I knew singing with the CD was going to be lame, so I volunteered Mom to play the piano (I’m in big trouble w/ Mom for doing that). But, she did a great job and made the meeting really nice.

After church, we found a little copy/utility room where Dad gave Nate a blessing. Then, we had one of the senior couples take our picture outside. Nate looked so handsome in his jacket, and I LOVE this picture of all of us together. One big happy family.

Nate wanted to go change out of his jacket and see if he was allowed to leave base (we were told in orientation they they had to stay on base on Sunday). We went back to the hotel while he did that and packed up all of our stuff and checked out. Then we went back and picked him up (and another airman he brought with him whose family had already left). We had to go back over to the chapel b/c Andrew said he left his backpack there (it was really in their car the whole time but for some reason couldn’t find it). Then we asked Nate what he wanted to do for 2 hours until we had to leave. We started heading towards downtown San Antonio to go to the river walk, but found out that Evan & his family were back at their hotel near the base. Nate was going to hang out with them for the rest of the day, and since we didn’t have enough time to go downtown and make it back before we had to leave, we turned around and went back towards the base. Nate wanted to eat at Subway for lunch.

Dad got this purple Air Force t-shirt for Lexie, b/c she loved the one Mom had so much and wanted one that said “Air Force Sister” but they didn’t have one like that so he got this one instead. We are all so proud of him!

Here’s everyone enjoying their sandwiches (including Jeffrey OHair).

We took Nate over to the hotel Evan was staying at, and I wasn’t ready to say good bye to him yet. It made me so sad to hug him and know I wouldn’t see him for another 2 1/2 months!

I thought this was a sweet picture of Mom giving Nate a good bye kiss (yeah, we kiss each other in our family). It was difficult to wave good bye and drive away knowing that he’s going to have a really really really hard 10 weeks ahead of him.
But, we had to leave him and wanted to get on the road since Dad had to be back for a seminary meeting (he’s teaching again this year). We were doing great until we got to the north side of Waco and then we hit bad traffic. We thought maybe there was an accident or construction, but there wasn’t any of that. It was just bad traffic b/c schools starts tomorrow and everyone was coming back from vacation. We drove along the frontage roads b/c it was faster. Anyways, we stopped for a potty break, to get some gas, and to grab a bite to eat. Dad went to get something out of the car and noticed the back wheel was looking low. When he took a closer look, this is what he saw…a big old bolt in the tire!

So, he had to change the tire (and they are big tires) in 108 degree weather (that’s not including the heat index)! He’s THE MAN! He got the spare put on and we finally made it home. We picked Emma up from the Monzingos and then Autumn & Nick & I came home to veg out and unwind and unpack. It was such a great long weekend, but I am ready to get back to our normal schedule for Autumn’s sake. She does so much better when she’s on a routine.

On Wednesday night at 10 e/p, there is going to be a show on the Discovery channel about Air Force Pararescue, which Nate is going to do. From the clips they showed on the commercial, I don’t know if I want to see it b/c they are so hard on those guys. And it makes me sick in my heart to think that Nate’s going to have to go through that. So maybe ignorance is bliss? But, we’ll probably end up watching it anyways. Y’all should watch it, too, so you can really appreciate how much these men & women sacrifice to keep up safe and free. It’s a REAL eye opener. Here is what the website says about the show:

Air Force Pararescuemen are the most highly trained combat search and rescue experts in US Special Operations. When a pilot goes down behind enemy lines, these are the experts who stop at nothing to get him out. Nicknamed "PJ's" for, "parajumpers," they are also surgically trained combat medics.

Full training to become a PJ takes more than two years. Early on, students must survive one notoriously difficult milestone called "Extended Training Day" designed to weed out anyone not up to the staggering demands of the PJ job. It's 24 hours of pure hell: nothing else in any special operations training course rivals the torment of this single day. In the end, only nine men out of 100 survive the cut and are allowed to continue training as a PJ.