BCT Graduation... Its a long one!

Okay, So I am a little behind on updating my blog but nobody really cares anyway! We have been busy the past 2 weeks and will continue to stay busy!
Wednesday 6-25-08 I flew out really early from Tucson through Houston (big airport and thank goodness I didn't have Hinckley!) all the way to Columbia, SC. I sat next to the sweetest lady who was coming to see her godson graduate. She was a riot! When I flew in it felt like home. The smell, the trees, the humidity... EVERYTHING reminded me of home. Well, except for one little thing... the people. I have never in my life been treated SO NICE by strangers. I love love love love love love did I mention I love the South? And I LOVE THE ACCENT! Maybe someday we will end up there. Well, I got off the plane to a beautiful airport and got my rental car. I waited for my friend Lisa to get off her plane ( I had never met her before but her husband and mine were in BCT together so we are sisters for life). She has really REALLY helped me get through this whole thing. Anyway, we embraced like old friends and headed off to our hotels. The one thing I LOVE about the EAST coast is the freeway and highway systems. YOu can be anywhere within a matter of minutes. Her husband got an on post pass for the day so she got to go see her hubby for about 45 mins. I checked into my lovely hotel and headed off for the base. I went to the PX and saw SO MANY SOLDIERS. I kept looking and looking and looking for Troy. (he didn't have his cell phone back yet) In fact I just starting crying in the middle of the PX because I was so overwhelmed with what I saw. It was so beautiful all these people willing to fight for MY freedom. Anyway... I met back up with Lisa and I was literally 30 steps from Troy but I couldn't see him. We went back and had dinner and went to our hotels. I couldn't sleep at ALL that night because of the anxiety of seeing my best friend who I hadnt seen in 3 months. After watching baby borrowers (LOVE IT) and a few late night shows I fell asleep.
Lisa and I planned to get to the family briefing at the Hilton Field super early to get good seats. The briefing started at 10 and we were there by 8:30. We had perfect seats right in front on the second row. Lisa has a walking disability so we used that to our advantage. We sat an waited for what seem like forever. We chatted with all the people around us. One guy was there to see his daughter graduate (he was there 25 years earlier), another young mom with 2 adorable girls and one on the way was next to us waiting to see her husband. Her husband was going to do airborne rescue. CRAZY! Another lady behind us was waiting to see her son. We all had this common bond and it was wonderful. We laughed and cried and held each other and in all honestly we didn't know them from Adam. Finally it began and there were a couple of speakers and they explained things from health insurance to job security, to what they had accomplished here. And finally the moment came. The guy asked us if we wanted to see our soldiers and we all started yelling and banging on the bleachers. All of a sudden smoke bombs started filling the field in front of us and the that song by Toby Kieth starting playing, "courtesy of the red, white and blue." VERY INSPIRIATIONAL SONG! And then out of nowhere the American Colors start coming through the smoke and hundreds of soldiers follow behind them in formation. OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT! One I will never be able to erase from my memory. The man up front then announced all the companies from A to E. Troy was in B so I was frantically looking for him but couldn't spot him. And then the sweetest words flowed out of this mans mouth... "Families... GO SEE YOUR SOLDIERS!" AHHHHHHHH! I was literally the first one of the field, the first one to Troys company and I WAS BALLING> I MEAN sobbing my little heart out and I spotted my man. My one and only prince charming staring back at me. His Drill Sergeant came up to me and said who are you here for maam. I was like TROY CARTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PFC Carter fall out. And we ran and embraced each other and he picked me up and it was just the sweetest experience. It was truly a magical experience. I HARDLY recognized who was holding me. He has lost a ton of weight and looks wonderful. We probably stood there looking into each others eyes for 15 minutes or so because before we knew a hord of people were coming up to us wanting to introduce their spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, etc. We had about 8 or 9 soldiers come up to us the following day and say how they were fine until I arrived and was crying and then when Troy and I embraced it was quote "something out of a movie." I wish I could have it on video. I would pay a million dollars to capture that moment. Even his DS (drill sergeant told me how touching it was to see us).
After everything settled down we went to eat lunch. We had to stay on base the rest of the day but we didn't care we just wanted to be together. I got to meet a ton of people that day. Most of them were big fans of Troy Carter. It was a neat experience for me to see these guys just love Troy for being Troy. Most of them credited their graduation to him. Which is honestly true for 3 of them. (I will do another post about that one day). We did laundry, we met with the sweet missionaries and had a little get together, we played up in his bay, WHICH WAS A HUGE NO NO. But thats what made it so adventurous! We talked, and we talked, and we talked. It was just wonderful. We had to say goodbye that night and I headed back to the hotel and he went off to the bay.
Friday was graduation day and again Lisa and I got there by 7:15 or so and it didn't start til 9am. We left it early because we knew there would be a mad rush to get to the bay because we had to sign them out for the day. Because of Lisas disability we got to ride in the DS car. That was fun! They told us how they appreciated both of our men. We took some pictures and headed off to be by ourselves. We did a few errands like wal-mart, the mall, and stuff. But for the most part we were just together and the time went by all too fast. I had to drop him off the next morning by 4am so I could catch my flight. It was hard to say goodbye but only 4 weeks now and we will be back together!