Plebe Summer Care Packages

 

Out of all the emails with questions that I have received so far this summer, the “what should I send in a care package?!” has been the most popular question. So I thought I would throw together a few ideas for you all. I hope it helps!

Above all…send tons of letters! These were the best things they can receive during the summer…and believe me, they mean so much. Second, in each letter I tried to send pictures of something fun from before he left or even just pictures of what me and my family/friends were doing.

Food:

Keep it healthy! During the summer they are not allowed to have any sweets and such. During the academic year, send him whatever…but no candy or junk food during the summer!

 

• Power/protein/Granola bars
• Dried fruit
• Beef jerky
• Flavored drink mixes (Gatorade, sweet tea, etc.)
• Energy drink mixes
• Cough drops
• Gum
• Breath mints

 

Miscellaneous:

 

• Mini American flag (if there are more midshipmen than beds caught in a room, they could get in trouble…if they have an American flag…this somehow makes it neutral ground. Haha. Traditions.)
• White-out/Tide to-go pens
• Gold bond foot powder (even if they don’t admit it, they need it)
• Febreeze
• Their favorite deodorant
• Chapstick/Carmex
• Duck tape
• Holy cards/prayer cards (I also sent him a cheap rosary to use over the summer)
• Envelopes, paper and stamps (maybe even pre-addressed envelopes)

Make sure if you are sending both food and non-food items to seal them in separate zip-lock bags or something similar. You don’t want the foot powder to mix in with your dried fruit or anything! Blah.

Also, please remember that he/she will be receiving and probably opening these packages in front of their whole company…so don’t set it so confetti will fly in their face or cheesy sayings will be flashed to everyone within a mile-radius. Keep it simple and low-key. Don’t draw unnecessary attention.

Over the summer I sent two or three care packages, but I sent him a letter almost every day…and a couple pictures every few days. Seriously, out of everything you could buy and send them, the words and images mean so much more! ;)

 

The Summer is Almost Over…

The end of summer is quickly approaching, and it is crunch-time for me!  Two days from now, most of the girlfriends will be out in Annapolis with their Midshipman, and I will be talking to mine on the phone before and after my last work shift of the summer.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am not going out for Parents’ Weekend for many different reasons…but I digress.  :)

I was able to speak with him over the phone this past Saturday.  I got to talk to him for a full 29 minutes…and I got that 29 minutes all to myself!  Yes, I didn’t share.  *insert evil laugh*  It was so nice getting to speak with him.  It felt like old-times (with the exception that he was over 700 miles away and there were detailers kicking him off the phone instead of our parents).  He is still doing well and excelling quickly.  I am looking forward to really catching up with him on the phone this weekend.  His parents and grandparents will all be out there, so I should be getting lots of pictures that I can share as well!  Safe journeys to all of the families that are traveling out to Annapolis this weekend!

As of today, I have two weeks left before I am an official college student living at Franciscan University!  Time is passing very quickly.   I have “met” my roommate over Skype and just about everything is packed up and ready to go.  There are still some loose ends to tie up and people to say goodbye to…but everything is going well!  I have officially moved out of my room (so my little sister can finally have her own room away from the 6-year-old YAY) and it is getting patched up, vacuumed and a fresh coat of paint is being put on!  It is funny how much stuff can be under a dresser that hasn’t been moved in about 10 years.  Dust bunnies!!!!

The store is officially open too!  There are now five different t-shirt designs and five bumper stickers to choose from!  You should take a peak (the link is up above). :)  It is has gotten some pretty good feedback…I hope you like them!

I have a funny story to share with you before I sign-off this evening.  Last week it had been quite a few days since I had last received a letter from Sean.  The mail-lady at my local post-office has been teasing me about the number of letters coming in and going out over the past few weeks, but as I had mentioned, there was a little lull in the incoming side of the mail.  Finally one day last week, three of Sean’s letters came in at once!  She knew I would be super-excited, so she wanted to let me know that I had gotten mail…so what did she do?  She took a sticky-note, cut it into the shape of a heart, drew a smile on it and stuck it on my post office box!  It was so cute and funny…she made me laugh pretty hard!

I believe that is all of the semi-interesting news that I have to share with you all!  Until next time…blessings! :)

One Month After I-Day

(5 days until 3rd phone call and 33 days until Annapolis visit.)

As of yesterday, it has been exactly a month since Sean was inducted into the Naval Academy.  Some days it seems like it has been longer, and other days it seems like he just left yesterday.  Both of which can be good.  On one hand, it can feel like his Plebe Summer is almost over, and on the other, all those memories from our summer together seem very recent!  But anyway…

When I talked to him last week he told me that on that Sunday evening all the platoons would be getting new detailers.  I guess the summer is so taxing that they have to change detailers half-way through! ;)  He also said that he had validated out of four classes, so his work-load will be lighter this coming fall semester.  He became ill during his second week at the Academy (he is doing better now) and he had to quit boxing (which he was disappointed about) but he got to switch to intramural soccer which he seems to be enjoying.  Although, they have had a bunch of “Black Flag Days” (meaning it is too hot to be outside to exercise) so they have not had soccer practice, so he has used that time to write letters to me!  I have no problem with that whatsoever!  I have received over a dozen letters from him since I-Day.  Snail-mail is truly snail-mail, and I normally get his letters about a week after he has written them.   Yet, they seem to be arriving more promptly as of late which is really nice!  I continue to write him everyday, and he has told me how much he loves getting my letters and tells me to send more (haha).  Many other things have happened on his side of Plebe Summer, but I will let him tell you all about that once he gets back!

Many things have happened on my side of the States as well.  I am less than a month away from moving to Franciscan University so things are a bit crazy.  I just got back from a girls-weekend with my mom and sisters though…so that was a blast!  I have been working quite a bit, and my “last work day” before leaving for college has been set which is really weird.

I am a moderator for the USNA Class of 2017 Girlfriends Facebook group, which is really fantastic!  I have met and befriended many other women who are going through the same things and it has been quite a blessing!  If you are a Mid’s girlfriend…look into and consider joining one of these groups, it is a great resource!  Such a good support-group!  Contact me if you need any help finding one… ;)

I am also working on a huge project:  a clothing-line for USNA Girlfriends.  There are tons of t-shirts and such for Navy girlfriends, but nothing really for those of us who are dating midshipmen at the Naval Academy!  So hopefully you will get to see the fruits of my labor some time this week!  I am really excited about this project, and I hope you will be too!

Little preview for you? ;)

Three weeks in…and three weeks out…

(3 Days until 2nd phone-call and 43 days until Annapolis visit).

Well, today marks exactly three weeks since Sean entered the Academy on I-Day and it is also the three week mark before Parents’ Weekend and the end of Plebe Summer.

I have received five letters from him so far (YAY!) and each of them were dated about a week or more before its arrival date (I guess it is called snail-mail for a reason). I have sent him many, many letters and pictures which he is hopefully receiving and I have been keeping myself really busy. Each member of my family has sent Sean a letter or two over the course of these three weeks. In the case of my 6-year-old sister, she has sent him a few pictures she has drawn for him (at his request). This Sunday his family and I will be getting together once again to share a phone call with our Midshipman. We are all looking forward to it!

Now as you may have noticed by my countdown at the beginning of each post, unlike most of the Plebe girlfriends, I will not be able to make the trip out to Annapolis for Parents’ Weekend for a few reasons of my own.

First off, Parents’ Weekend happens to fall less than two weeks before I am moving out of my parents’ house and into my dorm room at Franciscan University for the first time. Taking a five day trip which includes a 26+ hour drive right before moving would probably not be the smartest decision. While I am dying to see him, I kind of have to work on moving myself out and spending time with my family.

Secondly, it is called Parents’ Weekend for a reason. It is one of the last times that the parents will be able to spend some quality time with their midshipmen, and having me (the girlfriend) could potentially take away from that. Sean’s grandparents generously offered to drive me out there and his parents offered to pay for a hotel and such while I was there which was beyond kind, but they deserve to enjoy their time together as a family for the last time that they will get for a while!

Lastly, I am making a weekend visit to Annapolis on Labor Day weekend a couple weeks after Parents’ Weekend to see Sean, and I will not be able to see my family until near Halloween…so I’ve got to get in some quality time with them now! We have some family visits to make and I also have a few more shifts to work at my summer job. As I told another Plebe girlfriend recently, I haven’t been working my behind off so I look perfect for when I finally see him…I have mostly been working my behind off so I can afford to visit my Plebe (and afford college, and trips home, and food, and I think you get the picture…)!!

So in case you were wondering why this slacker was not posting pictures from Parents’ Weekend like the majority of other Plebe girlfriends will be…this is my explanation! Sean and I discussed this over a month before he left, so he already knew that it would be over two months before we could see each other once he left. We agreed that I would wait and not attend Parents’ Weekend on the conditions that he would call me as soon as he could get his hands on a phone that weekend and that I would visit him in Annapolis as soon as I got settled in Ohio! :) I am so happy for those of you who will be able to make the trip out to see your boyfriends! Be sure to tell me how crazy and awesome the weekend was! :)

First Phone Call

(12 Days until 2nd phone call and 53 days until Annapolis visit).

 

Yesterday I was able to talk to Sean for the first time since he reported on I-Day on June 27th!  It was so wonderful to hear his voice and to know that he is doing okay.  We were both anticipating only being allowed to talk for about five minutes, and he ended up getting almost a full thirty minutes to talk to me and his family.  It was such a blessing!

He seems to be doing very well altogether!  Physically, he is doing fantastic…he is just really missing friends and family.  He said multiple times how much he needed letters and pictures from home.  So far he has received 3 out of about 8 letters that I have sent to him.  He hadn’t gotten mail in a few days and he figured it was only because his platoon was being punished.  Sean said that the weakest member of the platoon makes or breaks everyone else.  If one person messes up, everyone gets punished.  They are definitely getting a taste of what the military is like! ;)  He should be getting the rest of the letters and packages soon though.

I went over to his parent’s house for the phone call, and it was very nice.  It was very strange at first being at “Sean’s house” without him! But it was great getting to visit and catch-up with his family.  They had also received a letter from him and it had three letters enclosed for me as well!  They were from the evening of I-Day and that Saturday.

We all talked to him together on different phone-lines around the house for the first 20 minutes, and then to my surprise they said goodbye to him and let me have the last few minutes to talk to him by myself.  It was very thoughtful and I cherished those last few minutes with him.  He told me that he is counting down the days until the day I come to see him in August.  He also begged me for more pictures and letters.  While on the phone with him I tried to make him laugh as much as I could and I told him not to worry about me and that “this too shall pass”.  There was a 90 second warning and shortly thereafter a rushed, “I have to go…goodbye, I love you” and then the phone clicked off.  I was very proud…I didn’t cry until after he had hung up the phone, so he will never know! ;)

Sean will get three phone calls altogether during Plebe Summer, and the next one is on July 21st.  Supposedly, we will have thirty minutes to talk with him each time, which is wonderful!  Until then, I am writing lots of letters and I am sending care-package #2 off to Annapolis this afternoon!

Keep us in your prayers!

I GOT MY FIRST LETTER!

(1 Day, 12 hours until first phone call, 56 Days until my Annapolis visit.)
I GOT MY FIRST LETTER FROM MY MIDSHIPMAN!  I did not think I would be getting a letter from Sean this soon.  Needless to say, I am ecstatic!  The letter I received today was dated June 29, 2013 (two days after I-Day and last Saturday for normal people) and it was postmarked July 1^st, which means they sent it right after the weekend.

We were given Sean’s mailing address about 2 weeks before I-Day.  As it turns out, the first address they sent to us was incorrect.  I found this out after I had sent my first letter of course.  Yet, according to his letter, even with the mix-up, he received the first one that I sent with the botched address.  They also told us that the midshipmen would not be able to receive mail until July 2^nd, and he received letter #1 on June 29^th.  So who knows why he got his so early!  Not that either of us are complaining about the letter getting there before it was supposed to arrive.

I sent my first letter on June 24^th, which was three days before Sean reported on I-Day.  I was not sure if it would reach him for two reasons.  First, I did not know if they would even be accepting mail for midshipmen who were not even on the grounds yet.  Second, I had sent the first letter with the company and platoon designation all wrong because of a mistake on the Academy’s side.  I think God was looking out for us! :)

Sean is doing as well as he can be under the circumstances.  He sounds tired and sad, but he said receiving my letter was an answer to his prayer.  He told me that while they were in formation right before bed, a detailer came and “plopped” the letter down in front of him.  Sean said that the letter from me was definitely needed…this of course made me feel all giddy and special.  He also included at the end of the letter a count-down for my visit to Annapolis at the end of August.

Letter #1 that I sent to Annapolis – June 24th.

Sean asked for two things in his letter which I think are probably pretty common requests: one, for me to send more letters about “the outside world”, and two, that I also include pictures.  So, send your midshipman lots of encouraging, fun, and sweet letters, and be sure to include some pictures in the envelopes on occasion!  From what I have heard, they are able to display pictures and such on a bulletin-board above their desks.

***Helpful hint: (I read this somewhere from a parent of a former midshipman, so I cannot claim credit) Mark each of your letters (envelopes and actual letters) with a number so your midshipman can open and read them in order. This will not only help them differentiate between letters easily in the little time they have to read them, but it will help you keep track of how many you have sent, which is quite fun also!  I mark mine on the back of the envelope and in the top right-hand corner of my letter right above the date.

Thanks for reading my post…and I am going to go and re-read my letter from Sean now! :)