My older stepson, the oldest child, is leaving for Marines boot camp next week. I first met the kids when he was about 7 years old, and I couldn’t sit down anywhere without him climbing into my lap or chatting my ear off.
I watched that poor kid get chewed up, spit out, twisted, mangled, and manipulated by his biological mother, Psycho, until he had no idea anymore which end was up. He was told to lie to us, lie to judges, lie for his mother, until he was so confused that he barely knew his own name.
I am glad he is finally getting away from her. The distance will do him good, I believe. But I feel sick to the stomach that he has as much admitted that he only enlisted to get away from her. I hope this is a good move for him, no matter what pushed him to take that first step.
Yesterday I was driving home from work thinking about him, and how much he will change in 12 weeks, how different he will be when he comes home. I remember one of my older brothers coming home from boot camp for the Army, and he walked up to us in the airport in his uniform, shorn head, much thinner, standing tall, commanding attention. A man actually came up to us and wanted to carry my brother’s suitcase for him, but my father beat him to that honor.
It occurred to me that I can make a lot of positive changes in those 12 weeks, too. Why not come out after 12 weeks as an improved me, too?
So, the “My Marine Boot Camp Challenge” was born! I called it My Marine not to refer to my challenge, but to my Marine: my stepson, who to me will always be a talkative, sensitive 7-year-old curled up in my lap, no matter that he is over 6 feet tall now and heading off to become a Marine.
My objective: during the 12 weeks that my stepson is away at boot camp, I will work hard too. I don’t even pretend that what I will do will be anywhere near as challenging or difficult as what he will be doing, but when I want to slack off and be lazy, I want to force myself to think of him and what he is pushing himself through to achieve his goal. Why can’t I push myself too?
He should be home from boot camp around January 2, 2018. I weigh in on Saturdays, so my final weigh-in for the challenge will be January 6, 2018. My goal is to lose 30 pounds during this “boot camp”. I know that sounds like a lot, but I anticipate losing more than 2 pounds per week to start out, especially when I bump up my workouts next week (I wanted to focus on consistency this week, then step it up next week).
I don’t want to wait until next week to start, or I will likely lose my drive. So I am starting right now. Consider me enlisted!
I’m excited to feel connected to my stepson in some way while he is gone, even if he isn’t even aware of it. I dedicate every workout, every drop of sweat, every huff and puff, to my stepson, and I hope I can make him even a tiny fraction as proud of me as I already am of him.
Sweat & Sparkle 