From MJ June 7th

Image by: Raceytay

Dear Galoshes,
We got to registration yesterday. It's at Fort Jackson but it doesn't count as basic training time yet. I guess we're going to be here for like a week and a half. So graduation may be pushed back. I guess I will find out for sure about two weeks into basic.

I really wished I would have gone home while I could have. I know I will be glad when I get back that I went. We have an older woman in our company/platoon that had to come back to basic to get back into active army because she stayed out 2 moths to late. So she has been kind of motivational, but at times she's more of a hassle.

We were supposed to be able to call our parents yesterday because they don't want our parents to call here, but they haven't let us yet.

Some of the girls are doing crazy things to get out of here. I guess one slammed her hand in the door and broke some fingers, one knocked herself out, all kinds of stuff.

Well I have to mail this now, we don't get much time here. I guess I should be able to call you tonight.

♥ You!
I miss you tons

Always and Forever
MaryJanes

From MJ June 6

Image by: selenavallejo

Hey Galoshes,
I have been sitting at MEPS for 4.5 hours now. I guess we are going to the airport around noon, but my flight doesn't leave until 5 tonight. I talked to Lily this morning. I guess the rumor about having to dye your hair is wrong. I talked to a girl who went to Jackson last summer. She said the drill sergeants are more like your friends, so I'm pretending I'm going to summer camp. She ended up having to go home though because she was over weight. She had slit option like me and was on her way to AIT. When they check our weight if we are over in pounds then they do a tape test and I had to get taped so when I was done and I passed I had to go to the guard office to get my orders and it was written down that I had to get a tape test. The guy was like "you had to get a tape test? YOU!" Then he said that the lady giving it to me must have just been insecure. I thought it was funny because I hate having to get tape instead of just being able to jump on the scale.

Image by:buckscountyframes

Well I'm going to write others now so talk to you later.

Love,
MaryJanes

From MJ June 5

Image by: selenavallejo

Dear Galoshes,
I have only been on the bus for 10 minutes and I already miss you. I could see that you were being strong at the bus station. I know you wanted to cry harder. But I also know that if you had I would have never gotten on the bus. I'll be fine. I know I will. I'll be back before you know it.

I hate buses. The kid next to me keeps talking about how all his friends die so he doesn't like to make friends. It's sad, but I'm being to selfish about leaving home to care so it's a good thing he's not talking to me.

I want to come home. Someone please shut that kid up. He's now rambling stories about animal cruelty. To bad Lily's (my best friend at the time) not here. She'd put him in his place.

When we were sitting in the bus stop and you were getting water, dad was telling me how his head and stomach hurt and he didn't know it was going to be so hard. I'm going to take a nap, but I will talk to you again later. ♥ya!

Hey mom, It's 11p.m., I'm in my hotel room. My room mate's asleep, she wasn't very social so she didn't hang out with the guys and me. I love my soap. My hair is braided and my nails are as short as possible, I'm all ready to go. I forgot to call Lily, but I'll be up way before she goes to school so I can get a hold of her then. She leaves on Thursday.

There are lots of rumors going around about basic (training). One of the guys said we aren't aloud to write or receive mail for a month, I don't believe that. I'm pretty sure they make us write home as soon as we get there.

Make sure you give the dogs extra loves for me. I miss my rusty baby. I also heard that we have to dye our hair to it's natural color. I hope not! The sun will bleach it so hopefully I won't have to worry about it.

I don't know if I will be able to move to California anymore (I had dreams of going to University of Southern California). I don't think I could leave you again. Next summer when I go to AIT you and Mike will have to plan a vacation to Maryland because I get weekends off.

Tommy's (my boyfriend at the time) dad's in the army national guard. I guess every male in his family, and there are a lot, have gone into some branch of the military. So when I meet them, if I meet them, I will fit right in. Tommy's not going though. He's a good guy, you'd like him. He looks a LOT like Ryan (the boy my mom thought I would marry).

Image by: selenavallejo

When I looked at myself in the mirror tonight it felt like I was seeing a reflection of someone else. I don't know how to explain it, but it was weird. Well, I'm going to try and sleep now. I have a long day ahead of me and it starts at four.  The guys and I decided we are going to get ourselves pumped up on the plane so it should be a fun flight.  But knowing me I will probably just be writing letters.

Love you SO much!
MaryJanes
~mommy's little girl~

Reasons Why We Do Things

Dear Readers,
The letters we are about to share with you are from the summer of 2000. I had just finished my junior year of high school and the day after school let out was leaving for basic training for the Amy National Guard. I was 17 years old and entered into a program that allowed me to go to basic over the summer, return for my senior year of high school, then go to Maryland for my AIT training (the schooling you go through to learn your specific military job).

MaryJanes Junior Year High School

It was the first time I had been away from home, ever. The longest Galoshes and I had ever been apart was just a few days while she went to visit a friend in Canada when I was 16.

I received a letter (sometimes two or three) a day from Galoshes. I think we both spent every free moment we had writing to each other.

You should also probably know that my interest in joining the military was also a desperate attempt for my father's approval. He was always saying that he wished he would have joined the military. Although we barely saw each other or spoke by the time I was 17, I hadn't fully given up on him yet. I don't know if I received a single letter from him while I was at basic training.

MaryJanes in Uniform

Perhaps we should have started our story here, past all of the dark times in our lives, but I don't think you would fully understand why we are the way we are without knowing some of what we have gone through.

Home

Image by:warmwhispers

Dear Readers,

The saying from the Wizard Of Oz, "There's No Place Like Home" would be the best way to summarize how meeting Mike {ski date} falling in love with him and moving into his home would be. For the very first time in my life, I felt like I was HOME! A place where I was intended to be. In a warm & cozy little house complete with a glowing fireplace, 2 big Labradors and most importantly a gentle, kind man which I adore. I had used the words, "I love you" to other men in my life, but it wasn't until Mike, that I really found the true meaning of those words.
Mike swings into action and makes sure that i have my dream setting by building me a big chicken coop and filling it with assorted pretty chickens for egg playing. Then no home is complete without a couple of baby sheep and a funny little goat, right!?
I will work on a little burro some time in the future. Mike had made a back yard swing for adults and we sit and swing, we don't have to say anything, the feelings for each other is understood and we just relax and swing. He is a tall man with big, wide shoulders and I nestle in under his arm. I am so at home here.

Image by:SilverHorsePhotos

MaryJanes has requested something from me year after year after year........a new name. Since she was 2 years old, she has pestered me about her name. It is now {age 16} that I give in to her appeals. "OK, lets go take care of that!" I tell her as she once again asks. The smile on her face is a mixture of true victory and utter disbelief. "Really?" she replies. "Find out what needs to be done, and I get to approve the name before it is final" I tell her.
We are off to the court house with a mission of renaming my daughter to a more fitting name. If you can recall, she wasn't named for 5 days after being born, as I could not come up with a name that suited her. So, I suppose it is only right that she picks her own, she is an independent one!
She selects a new first and middle name and we make it legal. The smile on her face is contagious. In all honesty, it really didn't take long to adjust to using her new name.
With her name came another venture, she was asked to enter a Miss Teen Wisconsin pageant. This is something I had never planned for so she and I got a quick learning lesson in the whole operation of pageants.

MaryJanes, age 16, Miss Wisconsin Pageant Evening Gown

To summarize the events of it, I am glad she took part in it, it was a great confidence builder.
It was expensive!
Preparing and shopping for the event was time well spent, just the two of us.
I see now that when we shopped, I was steering her in to attire more geared for the Miss Wisconsin Pageant. It was very apparent when we got to the hotel the weekend of the event, she didn't look like a teen contestant. She was mistaken for a Miss Wisconsin contestant several times. And as it turns out, the judges were looking for a fun, zesty TEEN. Here I was trying to help her by telling her to be so confident and act professional, when I should have told her to just have fun and be a kid. I would have never made a good pageant mother! I am too competitive.
There is a funny story that comes from the whole experience, when MaryJanes turned 17 years old, that very day, she enlisted into the Army National Guard and they used her picture as a "poster child" to recruit other teens.
There on a big poster was my little girl's picture, with the words, ARMY National Guard written underneath. Mike and I did not try to talk MaryJanes out of enlisting, we told her that is was going to be challenging especially for a girlie girl. When the recruiter, Augie came to have her sign papers, I had to trust that she really wanted this. She would leave and be gone during the summer of her junior and senior year of high school for basic training. She was to do a split training, basic first then senior year of high school followed by her AIT training of photojournalist. I just had to trust that she knew what she was in for. I was proud and scared all at once.

Image by:buckscountyframes

And so that summer she got onto a bus and headed to South Carolina to experience a whole new life style........

Now Take On A Challenge.
Love, Galoshes

Moving North

Image by: warmwhispers

Dear Readers,

My yearly rental contract was approaching a renewal soon. I had gotten a rental increase in the mail for the upcoming contract. I had paid my rent every month right on time and was hoping with that on my side, my rent would remain the same. So now I need to check the ads to see if I should move to a more affordable place or stay put and rearrange my budget to absorb the rent hike. MaryJanes is busy with her friends, high school and cheer-leading. There are times when I mark a date on the calendar that she and I will spend the night together. We would normally go to dinner, a movie or shopping. I found if I penciled it in, there could be no excuses of her having plans. I like to spend time with her and listen to what she has going on in her life. We have a really good open communication and I appreciate that.

As far as my dating life, that came to a screeching halt. At least the power dating did. I stopped my search after a few dates with my ski date. We are 45 minutes apart and MaryJanes is in school, so we write back and fourth allot. I make sure I mail him something every day. He and I have so much in common and both have old fashion views. I know I have found my soul mate. We date each other exclusively and I have told him the MJ comes first. No matter what, that is just the way it is. He completely understands.

MJ and I talk about looking for a new apartment and she is surprised that I didn't just ask her about moving to my ski guy's town. I explain to her that I wanted to get her through high school first. I didn't want to uproot her from her school and her friends. She only had three more years of school left. Recently she had broken up with "that boy" that I despised and was antsy to move on. She asked if I had planned on moving to my guys place. I told her, that yes, after she graduated. She said it was silly to wait, "lets move at the end of this school year" she announced."

Image by: Raceytay

After several talks with MJ, my sister, as well as my guy, that's just what happened. Did we move too fast, well technically I suppose so. But where my heart is concerned, no. It turned out to be the right thing.
MJ would be starting her sophomore year in a new school and she was excited about reinventing her self. She signed up right away for volley ball in order to help her fit in. She impressed me with her determination to get involved. Her father was not making any effort to get together with her. She was going to all of the volleyball practices and games yet he could only find time to make it to just one of them. I could see her looking in the audience to see if she could spot him. He continued to let her down, again and again.
Our divorce was final and I had a few issues with MJ's father not sticking to some of the agreements. He had gotten a girlfriend, a female version of himself, I thought they made for a perfect fit. Each of them loved the sound of their own voices. His girl friend was actually trying to get MJ's father involved with MJ. I appreciated that about her. And when MJ was having problems with a teacher that love to pick and choice her favorites and play God with grades, she was there to give me good advise about online coarse classes. That same teacher almost kept a nephew of mine from graduating right up until graduation day. She still teaches and I just can't understand why. She is a mean old broad! Honestly! Anyway, we enrolled MJ in the online studies for that subject and she aced the class. I bump into that teacher now and then, and don't seem to muster up the maturity to just let it all go. The word, "Bitch" always manages to slip out of my mouth. This is a down fall of mine, I am aware of this.

Now call your mother,

~Love, Galoshes

Bad Boys

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Dear MaryJanes,

Why, Why, Why do you date "That Boy"??
There is nothing about this boy that I like. NOTHING!
There are so many boys that call and stop by to see if you are home,
you have so many options! The boy that came on his roller skates!!
Pick any of them, just get rid of that looser! What can you see in him?
He is a cocky, smart mouth, disrespectful brat!
I hate him!
I hate him!
I hate him!

Do you understand?

Now dump him!
~Love, Galoshes

P.S. I am running a few errands, I will be back in about 2 hours.
I baked some cupcakes if you want some.
I love you!