One of my “baby” cousins joined the Army recently—farther away from home than he has ever been and sharing close quarters with young men from all over the place and all kinds of circumstances. He'll be graduating soon.
The only thing I have to compare with his experience is my freshman dorm at Auburn. I’m guessing boot camp is a little different. But the exposure to a bigger world is similar. My first roommates were a millionaire’s daughter, a military kid, and a girl from South Florida who was shopping for designer shoes while I was going through a Western-wear phase and listening to a lot of Willie Nelson.
You don’t realize how small your world is until you step out of it, which is scary at first. But it also makes you grateful. I never appreciated my mother’s cooking more than when I was living on Kraft macaroni and cheese and frozen chicken fingers. I didn’t appreciate Daddy’s fun-loving nature and sense of humor until I met girls with distant fathers who had never told them a joke or listened to records with them or taken them to a creek bank for the day. I'm guessing Baby Cuz has had a similar experience.
Back then, I couldn’t wait to get away from home. Now? Let's just say Dave and I have our regular assigned seats at Mama's table.
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