<p>Well here we are at Day 24 of Plebe summer 2008.</p>
<p>Son has sent *2 * letters home.</p>
<p>How does that compare to the rest of you?</p>
<p>We've gotten 4--although 2 of those came on the same day, so three days worth of mail. (One note was 100 words long, and he said it took him 3 whole days to write that much.)</p>
<p>6, one was on the 3x5ish piece of paper though...</p>
<p>All but the smallest were written over multiple days. He said he'd just write a sentence every chance he got. I'm actually staggered and amazed.</p>
<p>We've received four - our plebe said he has more time to write on the days the black flag has been up - they get to stay indoors!</p>
<p>We have gotten 6. We have noticed that his latest letters are more insightful and thoughtful than the first ones where you could tell he was writing under tremendous pressure. He told us he has ample time to write us especially on Sunday mornings. All have been upbeat, never has mentioned the food or conditions, says he likes his Cadre and one Detailer in particular which he describes as "awesome". Seems to be having a very good experience. One of his remarks really got me when he wrote, "it's really really good, as good as living hell gets" and then put a smiley face after that remark.</p>
<p>We have gotten 3 letters. One was one sentence telling us he had only 30 seconds to write. One was a page written over a couple of days. The last one was a form letter that I had made and mailed to him. He circle or checked the right answer or filled in the blanks. That was kind of fun. I got answers to the questions I had sent him. I tried to mix in some humor. He got the humor and elaborated on some. I sent him an addressed, stamped envelope with it. Girlfriend has gotten a few letters. She calls to keep us up to date. Son usually has a message for us in her letters and a message for her in ours. He says he is happy to be there and sounds good. That's all I could hope for.</p>
<p>We have gotten four. The latest included this:</p>
<p>"All in all, the summer is just one sweaty, blurry, exhausted haze. Which is exactly what I signed up for, so OO-RAH!"</p>
<p>He also says that he's not in the greatest shape physically ("not that that bothers me or anything") -- he is getting the plebe hack (as are many others) and tore a muscle playing rugby.</p>
<p>We've received 3 envelopes, with 5 letters, but all but one have coe in the past two days. At one point she wrote, "Somehow it's easier to write a bit than to find an envelope, address it, and send it." Needless to say, the next care package included envelopes addressed to home!</p>
<p>No mention of injuries yet (knock on wood). She did mention flunking the first Class A inspection, but the wrote, "but we learned what we did wrong."</p>
<p>I'm still amused that at the end of his last letter, he said "THE FOOD IS GREAT."</p>
<p>Given that he went in weighing 115 (wet!) and he told me that the kid boxing at 119 lbs is 20 lbs heavier than him, I'm a little freaked and reassured all at the same time! </p>
<p>I can't wait for the phone call tomorrow! Yippity!</p>
<p>Mine went in at 185, but I'm seeing photos of him on Thornton's where he looks more like 160 now. Probably my "mom goggles" are distorting things a bit. But I can't wait to talk to him tomorrow, and actually see him in less than 2 weeks!</p>
<p>Don't be disappointed if you aren't getting mail. We got ONE letter during Plebe Summer and that was the one they were required to write at the very beginning. </p>
<p>Have fun at PPW....trust me, the four years at USNA are going to fly! I can hardly believe that we're two months beyond graduation and our boy's in Pensacola in flight school.</p>
<p>^^^^^ Congrats on your son!</p>
<p>We are fortunate (in some ways) to have received 10 letters. Our plebe also had plebe hack and was confined to his room (SIQ) for 2 days, where he had plenty of time to write lengthy letters. They have all been positive. He keeps begging for more details of what's going on at home, although I write down the boring day-to-day things I do every day! He also wants pictures of us doing ordinary things! He also pulled a muscle at the Marine Obstacle Course and yesterday I saw him on dropshots on crutches!!!! Hopefully he will explain in today's phone call!</p>
<p>We've recieved 4 letters - but we figure he's written about ten letters if you include letters to grampa, friends and his old work place! </p>
<p>Grampa printed up return address lables for my son to use on his letters in addition to pre-addressed lables with grampa's address on them. So, I thought the return address lables were a bit silly, but I was wrong. Our son's letters were typically a sentence here and sentence there, so not having to write the return address was one less thing to do. Go figure.</p>
<p>We've just had the one letter, and that was WAY short, but it was pretty upbeat. In the phone call today he apologized for not writing more (we INUNDATED the speaker/phone with "do NOT worry about us, no big deal!" ) ... but he said they all have a little 'free' time Sunday a.m. and that he really tried to get to church which then cuts into his time ....</p>
<p>I kinda figure if he 'needs' church I ought to let him go!!!! :)</p>
<p>if you are not getting letters, rest assured it is not because your plebe is not thinking about you, about home, or about how many days are left until PPW. No doubt they are busy going about the business of plebe summer, and getting as much rest as possible whenever possible.</p>
<p>Hopefully you received the second of your 3 calls to home today- and PPW is clearly in sight! Hang in!</p>