Family Reunion, Military Style … (Day 10)

Joe's birthday celebration at Nancy's Pizza - November, 2009

The last time our family was all together was on Joe’s birthday in November (2009), about nine months ago. We met in Illinois for my dad’s memorial service. James was still living in Michigan and was able to drive down. TJ was given leave time to come, so he drove over from Montana, and Joe and I flew back from Salem. It was a busy weekend with my family and then a quick birthday celebration at Nancy’s Pizza for Joe.

Now that James has moved to the Seattle area, we are very thankful that we’ve had several opportunities to visit with him. This weekend was another one of those times. James had been asked to lead worship at a small church in town, so he and his girlfriend, Alaria, drove down on Saturday so that they could spend some time with us, too.

We took advantage of this visit to go through some boxes of his things that we  had been storing for him. Four boxes that were packed six years ago when Joe and I moved to Salem were put into the middle of the living room and James began going through them. A stack of photos brought back tons of memories, stories, and plenty of laughter! Alaria learned a lot about our family and James’ childhood in the process.

Probably the hardest part of this get-together was TJ’s absence. TJ has a very unique way to tell a story from the past or just create a brand new one! He is filled with a wide variety of voices that turn him into a telephone salesman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, any number of one of Jim Carey’s characters, and on the list goes. He is sure to bring laughter to any get-together! So, the stroll down the family memory lane was just a little bit harder without him.

This morning Joe and I went to church while James and Alaria met up with some of their friends. I was glued to my cell phone throughout the entire Sunday morning worship service hoping TJ would have time to call. I wanted to make sure that I did not miss it should the phone start to vibrate during the service. When there was no call, I admit, I was really disappointed.

Therefore, hearing the phone ring later in the morning after we had all come back to the house was beyond fabulous! TJ said one thing when I answered – “Hey.” He was obviously very tired and sounded more asleep than he was awake. It took him a few minutes to be more himself and then he patiently answered all of my questions.

The temperatures have been above 100 degrees since he arrived. “Mom, this is the desert,” he reminded me. He works four twelve hour shifts and then gets one day off. His first day off will be tomorrow. I am quite certain that sleep is high on his priority list! Despite the long hours, he finally feels a sense of worth in what he is doing for the Air Force. He has been given a different assignment each of these first four days of duty, which keeps the experiences new and exciting for him.

When he learned that James was home he asked to talk with him. Thankfully we have enough phones in the house that enabled all of us to get to talk together at the same time, a new way of having a family reunion!

James was the one who asked him what kinds of jobs he had been assigned to do. TJ began to explain that one day he was told to oversee four different posts. He had to drive to each one and check in with everybody making sure they were doing their jobs. To make these rounds, they gave TJ a stick-shift vehicle. His comment about that was, “That first hour was pretty interesting.” (TJ had one lesson on a stick-shift many years ago!) Later Joe’s comment was, “I wish I could have been there watching. I’ll bet it was pretty jerky!” I had only wished that we could have gotten all of those details from TJ in true “TJ style.”

I know that anytime TJ gets to call will be special, but, this one was extra special because of those brief moments when we were all on the phone together. Most family reunions are held over long weekends or even a full week filled with activities. We just found out that a family reunion can also take place with three of us in the living room, one of us more than half-way around the world, and all four of us sharing time together on the phone!

Tonight I am a very grateful, proud Mom!