HUBBY watched his CUB set sail…

As most of you know, Hubby is a Commander in the US Navy. (His job is why we moved to to the Paso Robles, CA area… .)

Well… last year, his eldest daughter, my step-daughter, Elizabeth, joined the Navy. Hubby was elated!

You see, Elizabeth is very bright, but she had not applied herself in High School…so… when all of her friends went off to College, she didn’t. That stung. And when EJ decided that she did in fact wish to go to college, she picked East Coast private colleges, which we couldn’t afford.

But Hubby has 3 Master degrees, all paid for by the Navy. So, he suggested to EJ that if she wanted to go to these special colleges, there was a way.. if she joined the military. She’d have a career and she’d get paid to learn at whichever university she chose.

Elizabeth didn’t bite at first… but after a while, seeing that life right now wasn’t going so well for her… she sought out a recruiter. The Navy recruiter tested her aptitude before accepting her – and she scored very, very high. The Navy offered her a linguist position – very skilled. If she joined, they would teach her Farsi. She’d automatically go up a rank and receive higher pay.

She joined. Hubby was thrilled! He hoped the military would give her all the perks, learning opportunities and honor that it has given him.

So EJ left for Boot Camp December 2016 and graduated in February 2017. Boot Camp had an amazing effect on her. Amazing.

Immediately thereafter, the Navy shipped her back to Monterey (where she grew up) to go to the Defensive Language Institute (which just happened to be in her home town) to learn Farsi . The course was a year long – a very compacted, immersive year. And during this time, although she was living in the barracks, she was still able to go to her Mom’s house whenever she was off duty. And, she spent most of her weekends at home…

…Not quite the ‘growing up’ experience we had hoped for… but she was excelling in language school, so we were totally OK with it all.

Two weeks ago, Elizabeth graduated from her Farsi school with honors.

And today… she left on her first deployment to Georgia (Fort Gordon). She will be listening and translating Farsi for the next 5 years. We don’t know what she will be doing as it is all classified, but she could be in an airplane, or on a boat or at a desk.

In any event, the cub finally left for her huge adventure!

We are so proud of her.