Matt graduated from BMT (Basic Military Training) this weekend at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. It was a hectic & funfilled weekend of running here and there, taking pictures & spending our few moments cherishing the time we had left together before he got whisked away to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for "Dirt Boyz" training (CE/Constructions and pavements).
We arrived Wednesday afternoon and stayed at Holiday Inn off of Durango & I-35. Never again. The hotel was nice enough but we had a mass of problems in the 4 night stay.
Thursday was Airmans run, Coin Ceremony & base liberty. It was hot, hot HOT! but totally worth every moment sitting in the heat. Matt ran by and that was the first time we saw him since 8 1/2 weeks ago. He was wearing his beautiful BCG's (birth control glasses) and they were hilarious. Afterwards we sat for hours while waiting for the coin ceremony to start. It was a touching ceremony that symbolically transitioned the men from 'trainee' to 'Airman'. After that the Airmen were released for base liberty. This was hectic. 700 graduates and their families all crammed into whatever hole in the wall places they could find on base. Bowling Alley, BX, food courts, everything was packed! 
Friday was the graduation parade & town pass. The graduation parade was nice. A lot of tears fell because they had the flag flying at half mast since a USAF and San Antonio native died in Afghanistan on June 9th. It was an especially touching moment & a cold slap in the face reminder of why our men and women are fighting. Saturday was town pass. We walked around San Antonio's Riverwalk and had a caricature done. Super cute. Matt got some weird stains on his blues shirt and we had to wash it in the sink with tide detergent (thanks mom!) and iron it dry. Matt and I basically said our goodbyes on Saturday since we knew Sunday we would be short on time and would not be allowed to have long drawn out goodbyes.
Sunday was base liberty. We walked around trying to find everything Matt needed last minute for tech school. I got a 'dog tag' from one of the specialty shops on base. On one side it says "My Love, My Hero, My Airman" and on the other it was specially engraved "Life Ain't Always Beautiful 3-19-08" for sentimental reasons.
Leaving to go home was hard, but we have made it this far without too many horrible complications & I think we will be able to truck through tech's 15 weeks without too many more problems.
Today I had an appointment to check on the status of my pregnancy rinitis (fancy word for sinus infections). The ENT felt that my face was regressing and sent me to a dentist (without dental insurance) to have a tooth extracted thinking that the problem may be in my mouth. 2 teeth, about 1" of stitches, a pulpotomy & some other random but necessary work later (did I mention $922?) and I'm in severe pain. Oh the joys of pregnancy.
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