Ok Reality, You Can Go Now

So I like my little river, you know the one..ya that one "De-Nial" . I swim in it everyday, it is perfect, never too hot, never too cold, just right. So today as I am frolicking in the lovely waters of said river nasty old Reality jumps in and ruins everything. Yep, thats right, pesky bugger reality, try to avoid it as much as possible. But somedays you just have to deal with it so it can go away again. Today I got the mail and it said, To The Parents Of ... well you know who,it was for "US". As soon as I opened it I knew what it was, something I looked forward to every year about this time, at least for the last 4 years. It was the NJROTC schedule for the last of the school year and the summer. It was always nice to get so I could plan accordingly. This year it was different, this time when I was looking at it I realized these dates just weren't important to us anymore, the drill camps, the trips to Parris Island, none of these things were for us to worry about. This year my son wouldn't be at any of those events because he was graduating and leaving not only High School but this Unit that has meant so much to him, and to our family. I know he will be getting other letters from ROTC, and that this is the door closing so the new one could open. I realized that he would be part of a new Unit, and this is just another one of those things that happens in life. And even though I know these things to be true, I still feel a bit sad.