prior to his service entry than he did in four years of college. It was go time; he was sitting on the flight deck waiting for his chance to fly.
The Colonel too faced an uneasy two weeks prior to his grandson’s departure. He displayed nothing but excitement and encouragement in Seven’s presence, but in the boy’s absence he felt his intestines cramping and coiling with the knowledge that he was about to pass off his boy to the next phase of his life. He was reminded of his own entry into the military and the days that led up to it. He recalled his own excitement and anxiety before joining the army. He remembered his dreams of becoming everything that he would later become. He remembered how unprepared he was and how totally wrong he was with his plans about how his career was going to proceed. The Colonel saw the same mistaken ideals and misguided paths in Seven. The old man knew that Seven’s thoughts and plans would take a hard turn the minute he crossed onto US government property, but he also knew that it was Seven’s adventure to discover that on his own. His heart was filled with pride, but his stomach was filled with knots. He wanted to complete the boy’s education and tell him everything he deserved to know. He feared the resentment that the boy might present to him when he did finally find out the truth and he feared spending a day without the boy in the house. He loved his wife dearly, but he had never actually spent much time alone with her. Seven came into their lives shortly after the Colonel signed his papers and left his last duty station. He feared the disruption in his otherwise happy life. The Colonel feared few things in this world but the days and years that lay ahead unsettled him like nothing before.
The day of departure finally came and Gran thought it best to say her goodbyes to her grandson at the farmhouse. She felt it appropriate that the two most important people in her life spend the three-hour drive together and without her distraction. Seven had never seen his stone-faced maternal figure cry. With the exception of anger and disappointment, she rarely presented any emotion at all. He openly allowed the tears to flow down his scared and distorted cheek as he embraced the small sturdy woman in the front yard of the farmhouse. She had been the rule of law, the voice of reason, and nurturing