Anthony needs a brother

Today I watched the son of a good friend of mine while she is doing her 2 weeks of duty as a Navy Reservist. Also, her husband is in the Marine Corps and flies with Landon. Her son, Marvin, is about 2.5 months younger than Anthony. I've known him since he was in utero! We had Marvin from 8am to 5pm and Anthony had a BLAST with him. It took about an hour or so to get over the initial whining and not sharing (on Anthony's part...Marvin is pretty much the most laid back child you will ever meet). After that initial adjustment, they were inseperable! We went on a wagon ride around the neighborhood, played with trucks and played with the rocks in the garden in the front. Their favorite game seemed to be playing on the horse. Marvin would start the sound and then Anthony would run over and hop on it and bounce to make Marvin laugh. After today, I have realized that Anthony definitely needs a sibling! Not anytime soon, but he will get one eventually! On another note, for those of you who have not heard, Landon has made the decision to stay in the Navy. It's definitely been a stressful 4 months going back and forth as whether to stay in or get out. We always thought he would get out. He's a skilled pilot with a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the Naval Academy - who wouldn't want to hire him!? Well, in this economy, it seemed as though he'd be lucky to get a job making 2/3 of what he is making now. We would also be giving up free health care, free college for Anthony (through Landon's GI Bill), extremely low life insurance, commissary privileges, not having to pay state tax, housing allowance, and a sizeable bonus. Even after taking all of that into consideration, Landon still could not get over the fact that his next tour he would be stuck on a ship and not flying at all. He was on the verge of submitting his resignation when his detailer (the person who arranges the orders) sent an email to him offering him a flying job when he is done here in February. He will be flying brand new helos off of a brand new carrier (the USS George Bush). So, he accepted! After here, Landon (and hopefully Anthony and I) will go to San Diego for about 6 - 8 months to train in the new helicopter. Then it's off to Jacksonville, FL for a few years. Ideally, we would have stayed in San Diego, but I guess you have to take what you can get! Please feel free to come visit!! I will now have to get adjusted back to that deployment lifestyle...at least I won't be in Japan!

2009-04-16