From Mom, August 19th 2009

Hi Jerm,

It was so great to get your letters, yes I got both of them the same day. I'm glad that you are finally in training and can actually start doing what you went to Georgia to do. It would be nice not to have your next duty station any where in the south. But, Fate is cruel, so try not to wish too much for something. We should finally get the KIA back from the body shop today. The truck has been fun to drive around just cause it is big and makes noise when you drive it. But of course the down side is that it eats gas like it's going out of style. I'm not quite sure what that saying means, but it is fun to say that 's for sure. :) I'm on call this weekend which sucks monkey balls (another fun thing to say! ha-ha) but I have no plans anyways. I did get the "BILL" for your Fred Meyer's incident. I still need to pay it though for you. You will be paying me back right? Brittany (John's Brittany) came over and fell in love with one of the puppies. So is going to try and talk John into letting her have him. I told her that I would give her a Military discount. That little boy just loved her, its funny cause I haven't seen him act like that before. He usually seems to complain about life. Funny little guy. Anyways it what be nice for Brittany to have a dog when John has to be away from her. She said he will be here around labor day weekend. Everyone around here is doing good. Grandma and Grandpa are doing okay, they miss you and I haven't been able to go over there like I want to because of the KIA situation and Wes having a lot more dr appointments than usual. Wes had another tooth pulled yesterday, so we had to do the usual protecting the world at large from out of his mind Wes. He don't remember anything after walking thru the door at the dentist. Like he is missing a big block of time yesterday. I forgot to tell you that the whole bankruptcy thing went okay the other day, so pretty soon we can put that whole thing behind us and start out fresh. Of course that bad thing is that it will be on our credit report for several years to come. But we will survive. Maybe when you get our of the army you can buy our house, I think that I'm taking my blocks though. I'm hoping to move out of there in fives years. Fritz misses you. So do the rest of the dogs. You are their favorite you know. It just isn't the same with Mike, cause you have spend the most time with them from the very beginning. Sadie still has issues with him. I wonder if she will have to get to know you all over again every time you get to come home for a visit. I love you and miss you. Thank you so much for sending me so many letters. My plan is to write you every day especially at first. Take care of yourself and stay focused. The boot camp will go by so fast and you will be so proud of going thru it. It would be very cool if you got some marksmen points or awards. Tell your battle buddy that I hope his back stops giving him problems soon and say "hi", "hey" or "howdy", which ever is the most appropriate, to the other Smith for me.

Love Mom