The Ladies Love a Man in a Uniform

So, now Maxx is looking at the Marines and continues to play football to stay in shape for the military. As a sophomore, he gets to play for the Susquehannock High School Warrior football team. In 2005, they are the 1st team in school history to make it to the playoffs. Unfortunately, they lost in the 1st round. At the end of 2005, we make a decision to move to Dallas, TX to continue my career with Southwest Airlines. We choose Garland High School for the football program. For the 2006 football season, Maxx plays on the Garland Owls football team as they move all the way to the state semi-finals, where they lost in this last round. If you view the tapes, you'll see this was a questionable victory for the other team! Maxx, however,was able to play in Texas Stadium and even went on to work at the stadium as security for a few games. After one game, he walked both Tony Romo and Terrell Owens to their cars. He said they were great guys who talked to him about the game and his football playing. It was a great time in Maxx's life.

His junior year came and I had to learn all about mums and garters and homecoming. Maxx began getting letters from colleges asking him to visit to consider playing for their teams. The Navy and Marine recruiters who came to the school were courting Maxx as well. He kept saying, "Mom, I really like football, but I just don't think I wanna go to college! I really wanna either go in the Navy or go into the Marines. I want to go in as an enlisted man and work my way up to gain the respect of my men...I don't wanna go in as an officer, I wanna earn it!"

The summer before his senior year came and went. Maxx worked as a lifeguard at Hawaiian Falls water park in Garland that summer and had a great time. He was still undecided about college or military, so one weekend during school we were sitting around talking about it. The truth came out: Maxx knew that the ladies would looooooooooove those crisp, sweet-looking Marine dress blues way more than they'd dig the little white sailor's cap. Besides, he loved the brotherhood that the Marines offer: Once a Marine, Always a Marine. I said, "So, why don't you just go on Monday to the Marine Recruiting Office and just ask about what you need to do?" This was on a Sunday night. On Monday, Garry and I went into his room to kiss him goodbye as we left for work, as we have done for years. It would be the last time I would feel that my son belonged to me.