What do you do when your 23 year old; recently married son tells you he wants to join the Army. I'll tell you...you cry a little , you worry, you pray(a lot) and you talk. That's what we've been doing for the last few days. When John first told me late Saturday night after playing poker with his "poker buddies". Which are really his brothers, cousins, our boys and some of their friends. I didn't think he was serious. Well, fast forward to Monday. Daniel and Katie have talked to an Army recruiter! He's taken his initial test and asked all the questions he (they) had. At first I hadn't talked to him. I was getting the information through John. I was not happy! I thought John, being an Army Reservist for almost 20 years, was encouraging him. There is a war going on! Thousands of young men and women have died. I won't get into my political views here but who know how long this war will last. I know there are many benefits to joining the military. Our Nephew who lives in Ohio with his Mom is in town visiting before he heads out to basic training for the Marines. When I heard he was going. I felt so proud of him! His Dad is in the National Guards and did a tour in Iraq. But talk about double standards. Now that it's Daniel I'm scared. Don't get me wrong I'm very proud of him! He is a smart young man, he has a great head on his shoulders. He is so much like his Dad. I think Daniel looks more like his Dad than Nicholas. I did finally talk to him. I just wanted to hear it from him. I wanted to know he/they were making an informed decision. He said "I've been thinking about it for a while. "I want to be a part of something bigger..." I know cue the National Anthem and I'm not trying to be funny. John and I have talked. I know he is giving him a very realistic view. He'll be gone for at least six months first for basic training then for classes. They are newly weds, this is not going to be easy. I've only had a small taste of John being gone. He hasn't, thank God, been deployed. He served active duty but only state side. He's had to travel a lot for training sometimes weeks at a time. In the last few months he has had to travel a lot more with a new job. Being apart is hard even if only for a few weeks. Oh! One more thing, I guess they talked to a good recruiter. I say good because he was honest with them. When Katie went in, one of the questions on her list was. What were the chances of Daniel being deployed. He, the recruiter, said 99%. He said going in you should be prepared because there is always that chance. See, this is where my worry kicks in. Of course some of my concerns are purely selfish. What if he is stationed out of state? We are so looking forward to Grand-children. I wanted them close. John says it we'll just have to go see them. A good excuse to travel , not that we need one. We love to travel but who doesn't =) I can't imagine being apart from your spouse or Son for a year or more because most have gone on more than one tour. One of John's good friends and co-worker is leaving in a few months. He is being deployed to Afghanistan. His wife Penny, has become a good friend of mine. We are Army wives and we stick together. I sound pretty proud and that's because I am. But, it doesn't make it any easier to let my Son go. Nothing is definite yet but we'll see what happens. He's taking another test tomorrow.
I kept the mantel pretty simple. I'm really liking the clean look of it.
I bought this at a Southern Living (when it was called that) party a friend had a few years ago. I love that I can change out the flowers depending on the Season. 
I found the flowers (in bunches) in the bin and I just took them apart and arranged them in the holder. The ribbon was from an old Fall wreath. Not too bad HUH!