One day Amy surprised us all by saying she was joining the Coast Guard!! She had been working at the Herberger Theater in Phoenix so this was a great change in occupations. We were happy for her, but sorry to see her go at the same time. She was almost over the age limit to join. She went to Cape May, New Jersey. She looked so little taking off all by herself. But then she has always been a very self confident young lady so we knew she would succeed.
After the six weeks of boot camp were over it was time for her to graduate. We just could not let her graduate without some of her family there to see it and cheer her on. Karen and I figured out a way that we could go. We wanted Laura to go with us also, but she couldn't break away. I flew from Phoenix and Karen flew from North Carolina to the airport in Baltimore. Our flights wouldn't be arriving at the same time or at the same gate so we contacted each other by cell phone. Cell phones were quite new at that time. It worked perfectly. We rented a car and drove to Cape May. It was October and the trees were so beautiful we "oooed and aawed" all the way. I think we were on the wrong road but we didn't care because the scenery was so lovely.
Finally we arrived and had little time to spare before the graduation ceremony. We found seats in the bleachers and faced the parade ground. A group of cadets marched in and we looked and looked to find Amy among them. Then another came in and we still didn't see her. Of course they all were in uniform and looked so much alike. And we were far enough away we couldn't see the faces plainly. Then the ceremony began and a group that had achieved in boot camp marched in and there was our Amy!! She had excelled in scholarship. We were so proud of her. She received special recognition.
Right after the graduation we ran down from the bleachers and hugged her. Nearly all the cadets had family there so we were glad our Amy did too. Amy did not want to stick around so she was packed and ready to go. We didn't see much of Cape May.
The trip back to the Baltimore airport was enjoyable. We looked at the beautiful trees and the lovely homes. Such a great setting for picture taking. Amy was starving for CHOCOLATE so we stopped at the first store we could find and bought some . We arrived at a motel close to the Baltimore airport and checked in for the night. Amy's flight was early the next morning and Karen's and mine were later. Both flights had mechanical problems and were delayed. We were at different gates so I decided to go visit a while longer with Karen. When I returned to my gate there was no one there! I was scared and didn't know what to do. Some one yelled "Go knock on the door", so I did and thankfully someone came and opened it for me. That was very scary. The plane took off for Phoenix and I had an uneventful flight home. I was so glad we had gone.
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