My Son, My Soldier, My Hero: Family Weekend at Fort Benning, Georgia

The past ten weeks have been ten of the most difficult weeks of my life. My husband and my children are my world. I never liked being away from them. One week is the longest period of time I ever spent away from any of my children. They rarely attended a school event unless my husband or me tagged along to watch every move they and their friends made. I managed to muster up enough courage to allow them to attend church trips without their nagging parents tagging along. It was difficult, but I let them attend those trips on their own.

When my son reached his eighteenth birthday and graduated from high school, he chose to join the Georgia Army National Guard. I wasn't surprised by his decision. He has always been proud of his dad's service and he has been playing "Army" since he could crawl. One of his first outfits was a camouflaged onsie. My heart was filled with joy, pride, and overwhelming fear when he announced his decision. I would have been proud of him no matter what career he chose. As his mother, a "safer" choice might have been nice, but this is who he is so I am proud and afraid for him at the same time. Right now, I just miss him.

On October 28, 2011, my son graduated from Basic Training and officially became a soldier in the Army of the United States. In honor of the celebration of their accomplishments, the soldiers who qualified for leave were granted a Family Day. They were actually given two days to spend with their families before entering the next phase of their training, Advanced Infantry Training (AIT). We were able to spend all day on Friday and Saturday with our hero. He had grown up . . . a lot. He is no longer the little boy that left us in August. He is now a fine young man who loves his God, his family, and his country. We are so proud of him and we had the best time visiting with him.

After the ceremony, my son just wanted to get off base. He had not seen anything outside Fort Benning or eaten any "good food" in ten weeks. We took him to the Wild Animal Safari located in nearby Pine Mountain, Georgia. Although we have heard about the park for years, this was our first visit to the safari. We rented a bus painted up like a zebra then drove into the wild. We had the best time. The animals come up to the bus, stick their heads inside as far as they can reach and then open their mouths to beg for food. It is an amusing sight. You can purchase a bag of food inside the building which also contains a store before going on your self-led tour. Our family shared one bag. Our kids enjoyed tossing the food into the animals mouths. I actually managed to capture one photo of the food in mid-air as it entered the animals mouth. We encountered all sorts of animals. I couldn't begin to name them all. Some of them looked sweet enough to take home for pets while others were a bit frightening to me. If you are ever in the Middle Georgia area, the Wild Animal Safari is definitely a "must do."

After leaving the Wild Animal Safari, we took our son to Chilis where he enjoyed a long awaited Big Mouth Bacon Burger. Before Basic Training, he would order the dish and eat about half of it. He always needed a take-out container so he could finish the second half at home. This time, no take-out dish was needed. He ate the whole thing . . . and the fries too! My son is, or should I say was, a bit of a picky eater and mostly a snacker. He eats just a little bit at a time. I think those days are gone.

Then, we took him to another tourist destination which we, as Georgians, are sorry to say we have never visited, The Little White House. I always wanted to visit the grounds, but never made the time. I am so glad we went there this past weekend.

We visited the servant's house, the guest house, and the main house. I was surprised at how small the rooms were in the servant's house and the guest house. Even in the 1940s, I thought the rooms would have been larger and more elaborate. The three buildings, including the main house, were surprisingly small and primitively decorated, yet warm, cozy, and inviting.

Before visiting the houses on the grounds, visitors enter a museum. As I traveled through the museum, I wondered how many artifacts were genuine and how many were replicas. Personally, I would rather not see replicas. I enjoy viewing actual genuine artifacts. We arrived at the site shortly before closing, so there was no tour guide available to answer questions. However, when we made our way into the tiny main house, a tour guide was still inside the house. He informed me that everything in the main house, the servant's house, and the guest house were genuine. Everything in that room was there as it was when President Roosevelt was there. I looked around the room, and for a moment, went back in time as I saw the chair and desk where President Roosevelt was sitting when he suffered his stroke and his books still lined the shelves beside the fire place.

The bathroom was one of the most unusual rooms. The tub was small and a slab of wood had been installed between the tub and the wall so that if President Roosevelt dropped the soap, it would slide down to the end of the tub and onto the floor so that he or a servant could pick it up without having to dig between the tub and the wall. The toilet was built up on a block like structure. We were told that the toilet in that room was one of, if not the very first, "special needs toilets."

Deep down, I continued to question the authenticity of the artifacts until I looked beside the toilet seat and saw the toilet paper. The toilet paper which was on the roll when President Roosevelt was there was still on the roll beside the toilet. It had aged to the point of resembling an original ancient document and was incased inside a clear plastic box which was bolted to the wall around it.

We enjoyed our visit to The Little White House.

Note: We noticed guard posts around the grounds. In front of each one, a sign read "Marine Corp Guard Post" or something like that. We know that the Marine Corps is charged with the duty of guarding the President of the United States, but we could not help but amusingly point the posts out to my son as we asked him why there were no Army guard posts. His response was, "Hey, the Army was busy fighting the war. The had to find something to do with the Marines." My husband, the Marine, did not find his comment as amusing as the rest of us, but he laughed along with us anyway . . . in support of his son, of course.

The next day passed way too quickly, but we enjoyed the day. The weather was a bit colder than the day before, but we didn't mind. It was our last few hours with our son so we enjoyed every moment. We took him to Callaway Gardens. Inside the park, we spent a little time in the butterfly house. This time of year, the butterflies were not as plentiful as in the summer months when we had visited in the past. Still, the room was warm, the plants were beautiful, and a few butterflies fluttered around. After leaving the butterfly room, we walked around the pond and fed ducks and fish from a bridge. Then, we traveled a down a portion of the Lady Bird Johnson Trail. The leaves were beautiful. I think it might have been Peak Weekend in Pine Mountain, Georgia. The leaves here in North Georgia are pretty, but the foliage there seemed brighter and more colorful. It might have been due to the presence of our son whom we had been missing and the family time we were enjoying. We had also taken my parents and my son's girlfriend with us. We finished our short tour in the Horticulture Building before returning our son to base in order to begin his Advanced Infantry Training.

My son seemed to enjoy his two days with his parents, two sisters, grandparents, and his girlfriend. It was a beautiful weekend and I will cherish those days for the rest of my life.