He was one of Shelle's foster kids and only just got back in contact with her. Shelle's was the only mother Wesley (and his brother and sister) ever had for years...in fact, they all still call her "Mom."
This was all before I met my wife. She was the ONLY one who would take "severe problem children" AND take them as a family unit. She did it for a long time while working as a night floor supervisor of 160 employees at Delta Faucet in Indiana. She insists that just taking care of me alone is harder than all that put together ever was...
Turns out Wesley is in the 82nd Airborne Division and wants to meet me (well...mostly Shelle, I'm sure) this weekend before he heads to Fort Polk, LA for some final training and then he's off to Iraq for his first tour there.
He's newly married and his wife Carrie is now pregnant. He has to make a "jump" on Saturday morning. The jump is a "Hollywood" one, so he doesn't have to wear a lot of equipment and the families are invited to watch.
His father has been in prison for a long time, don't know what he mother's status was or is. But, no one ever showed up for his Basic Training graduation, AIT graduation or Airborne School graduation. Shelle would have gone if she'd known what he'd been up to since he left her home, but the "no contact" was his decision at the time. But it looks like the kid has been trying hard to make something of his life now, so we're gonna make sure somebody besides his wife gets to at least see him do SOMETHING he's proud of!
I'll be taking lots of pictures for Shelle. The parachute jump is an early morning (0600) one onto Sicily Drop Zone (boy, does THAT bring back memories). If it's light enough I'll take some photos of that, too. I'll share some if any turn out well enough to see.
Shelle's REALLY excited and nervous about the reunion. News at 11! Well, sometime Sunday, anyway...
.
.
This was all before I met my wife. She was the ONLY one who would take "severe problem children" AND take them as a family unit. She did it for a long time while working as a night floor supervisor of 160 employees at Delta Faucet in Indiana. She insists that just taking care of me alone is harder than all that put together ever was...
Turns out Wesley is in the 82nd Airborne Division and wants to meet me (well...mostly Shelle, I'm sure) this weekend before he heads to Fort Polk, LA for some final training and then he's off to Iraq for his first tour there.
He's newly married and his wife Carrie is now pregnant. He has to make a "jump" on Saturday morning. The jump is a "Hollywood" one, so he doesn't have to wear a lot of equipment and the families are invited to watch.
His father has been in prison for a long time, don't know what he mother's status was or is. But, no one ever showed up for his Basic Training graduation, AIT graduation or Airborne School graduation. Shelle would have gone if she'd known what he'd been up to since he left her home, but the "no contact" was his decision at the time. But it looks like the kid has been trying hard to make something of his life now, so we're gonna make sure somebody besides his wife gets to at least see him do SOMETHING he's proud of!
I'll be taking lots of pictures for Shelle. The parachute jump is an early morning (0600) one onto Sicily Drop Zone (boy, does THAT bring back memories). If it's light enough I'll take some photos of that, too. I'll share some if any turn out well enough to see.
Shelle's REALLY excited and nervous about the reunion. News at 11! Well, sometime Sunday, anyway...
.
.