June 4, 2011~

Goon (aka Garrett) Perkins here.  Hope this finds y'all well.  Me, I'm excited, but at the same time, I am scared to death.

See, on Sunday (tomorrow!!), I graduate from high school!  Yes!! After years of slaving over homework, I am about to be free!  Yet I can't enjoy my new-found freedom too much because only a few days later, I leave for Texas.

I joined the Air Force.  My basic training starts Wednesday of next week.  It will be held for twelve weeks; it will be at Lackland Air Force Base, which is in San Antonio, Texas.

I already had the required physsies; passed with flying colors, but I got a waiver, on account I am so tall and so big.  I have lost over 100 pounds since I wrote last (weigh under 300; I'm nothing but skin and bones!!); I'm a shell of my former (hulking) self!

Shawn (my best bud; he lives in Alabama) won't recognize me when he sees me at Christmas time!

My family is doing well (for the most part).  Joshiah, who is my baby brother at eight, continues to elude any odds pinned upon him by stupid-butt doctors who don't know their assholes from their clavicles.  Sorry, but they don't!  They are incredibly dense!  It's a wonder how some of them even got through medical school!!  Joshiah has this rare disease that causes increasing disability; the doctors said he wouldn't live past the age of five.  Well, he's eight now and still hanging on.  He's a lot tougher than people realize!

Joshiah is in a wheelchair, is fed by a tube in his belly, wears diapers, and can't do anything for himself.  He is basically helpless; he requires twenty-four hour care.

It's not easy, but I have always been the one who took care of him.  Joshie and I have always had a very close relationship.  He loves me and I love him right back.  Even though he can't express it in words, he can tell me by his eyes or facial expressions, and he's a lot smarter than people think!

I'm gonna miss that when I leave for the Air Force ....

Now mom, pop, and my oldest brothers (Ethan and Marcus) will have to take over that ... in addition to watching over Icarus, who at 13, has autism, and our little sister, Dyamond, who is six and all girlie-girl.

It's finally gotten warm out here in New Hamshire.  Soon the heat and humidity will begin in earnest.  Yet I can't enjoy it because I'll be stuck in Texas, undergoing basic training! 

I just hope I don't get kicked out of the Air Force ... I am known to be a screw-up at times ... why do you think people call me "Goon"?? Goons, as a whole, are slow-witted and incredibly stupid and clumsy.  That is me all over!

Today we will go to the high school for final pre-graduation practice; the princidpal or the head honchos of the school want to make sure we have everything down pat.  Don't blame them.  After I graduate and get my diploma, we'll go back home, where mom and pop will throw a big-time bash in my honor.  That is gonna be so cool: I'm gonna be the star of the show! :)

Bring it on, man!! I'm more than ready!! :D

Then I can kiss my school years good-bye and literally go into my next phase of life, which is the military. 

I just hope I don't end up in any darn war zone.  I don't want to be killed or hopelessly maimed; I want to get something out of the Air Force!  And I want to go somewhere like Alaska or Australia; that would be too freaking awesome!!

Well, I gotta go!  Take care and God bless; will write to you after I get settled in at Lackland in Texas!  Then I can tell you all about my Air Force adventures!  :) 

~"Goon".  :)