Chapter 9

I've decided to go back a few years to around 1992 or 1993. I was pregnant with Steven, and we were stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Desert Shield/Desert Storm had ended, but Brian was off doing Army things. To be honest I don't remember where he was during this incident.

Greg was around 15 years old, and I had asked him to water the flowers in the front yard. He did with only a minimal amount of grumping. He was a teenage male after all.

I opened the front door and said, "Don't forget to water the flowers out back."

I received a relatively small amount of grumping so went upstairs to put laundry away.

Walking downstairs a few minutes later, I noticed a trail of water from the front door, through the hallway, and through the living room. It continued through the dining room, and out the back door. Not being happy about this I stormed out the back door.

Greg must have noticed my unhappy expression but pretended to be innocent. "Is there a problem, Mom? You told me to water the flowers out back."

Doing my very best not to do a complete volcanic explosion, I asked, "Why is there a path of water through the house?"

"I'm watering the flowers out back."

"Maybe moving the hose to the back yard would've been the right way to handle this." My voice elevated, "Not bringing it through the house."

He pointed to the basketball court a few yards from our house. "There's a pickup game. I needed to hurry," he said very proud of his logic.

"Guess who's not playing basketball?"

"Would that be me?"

"After you clean up the mess in the house, I doubt you'll have time to play before dinner."

*****
Greg did grow up to be a very wonderful man. He was the oldest and one of my more peaceful boys. He enlisted in the Army right out of high school and did 26 years active Army before he retired. He's married. He and his wife, Nicole, have a 12-year-old daughter, Kinley. They live in Florida.

Greg did five tours of Iraq and has a 100 percent disability from his service. That being said, he's doing extremely well. My husband and I are beyond proud of him.