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Parent's Weekend!

(The Cadet Experience, Class of 2015) Permanent link All Posts

The most fun weekend, at least for me, of the semester has passed, Parent’s Weekend. My parents and grandparents came up for the weekend to go to a few classes, watch drill on the parade field, see my room, and give me a break from the Academy for a short weekend. Being from Arizona makes life a little harder being 2,000 miles from home because I can’t just hop in a car or train and make it home for a long weekend or Thanksgiving. This weekend was the first time I saw my parents since Reporting-In Day and it had been too long! I got to see my parents in the same spot I said my goodbyes on R-Day four months earlier, except this time I was wearing a uniform, I held my head a little higher, and had a firmer handshake. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my parents and grandparents like I was at home and I got to remember for a short second what normalcy was like.

It was the best weekend so far, better than our first weekend having liberty in Mystic, better than our weekend in New York City while on Eagle, and better than our first liberty as fourth class cadets. Yes, it was so much fun, but it made me miss home even more after they left. Most of us fourth class spend a majority of our free time looking for ways to get back on cheap flights or just counting down the days until we get to go home. Since 4/c year is the most difficult, we can’t wait till we get to go home. Most cadets get to go home for Thanksgiving, but being so far away, it’s not worth the money or the two days of traveling for a couple days at home. Christmas can’t come any sooner since that will be the first time I get to go home and see all of my family and friends. It is tough being so far away, only seeing your family maybe twice a year after you are used to seeing them way too much than you want to see them, but it is just a small price to be paid for what cadets receive here.

More about Matt.

Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/16/2012 3:53 PM