NaBloPoMo Day 19

A quick update on our recruit:

RJR developed pneumonia in October and was moved to the medical platoon for his recovery. The prayer was that he would heal quickly and be able to resume training in time to graduate later in December or early January. It's been three weeks now and he is still having trouble breathing. At this point, December is definitely out of the question and January is close to being taken off the table.

We are working on very limited information, receiving updates by mail to his mom and then provided to us by her via public posts on Face.Book. It's so frustrating! Between his illness, the uncertainty of a graduation date, lack of communication from RJR to us directly, and the total breakdown of communication by his mom, I don't know what to do to support him. We are still sending him letters twice per week and praying for him daily. His letter to his mom requested more letters because he is bored in recovery but he hasn't been writing us or acknowledged that he has received our letters. Working on not being resentful or miffed about this and reminding myself that this situation perfectly represents the continued communication problems with that family. I do wish he would write us, though.

We found out that R's father will most likely be attending graduation. Ugh. R has a very strained relationship with his father and I'm not a big fan of him, either, ever since his only response to our pregnancy announcement was to say to R, "Aren't you too old to be a father again?" (Along with no response to the text R sent when we found out it was a boy, no response to a baby shower invite, no card when Little Buddy was born, and only a brief text of "Thanks for the pic" when we sent him a print from the newborn photo shoot. Thanks for making us feel good, man./sarcasm.) With the knowledge that we will be seeing him at graduation, R's and my enthusiasm about the event has really dropped. It now feels like an obligation to endure rather than an accomplishment to be celebrated.

And I found out that R's ex-wife still calls his father Dad. Umm, they were married for four years and have been divorced for more than ten. That's weird, right? I mean, I have a fine relationship with my ex-MIL but I call her by her first name out of respect of her relationship with her actual children and their spouses.

I just... yeah. The whole USMC situation is at a back burner simmer right now - causing stress but not at the forefront of our minds since there's no set graduation date. Praying for RJR's healing and taking some deep breaths for ourselves.