Hurrah for Israel!

It’s official . . . Ryan is Elder Miller.

President Smith set him apart last night.

And now he’s gone. We got up at 3 a.m. this morning (early even by missionary standards!) and left at 4 to get to the Fresno airport for his 6:05 a.m. flight to Salt Lake City. From there Ryan caught a shuttle to the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) just north of the BYU campus where he met Reece, his 16-year-old brother, (who is there for youth camp this week). They went to lunch then back to the MTC for an orientation.

I know this because Ryan still had his cell phone up until that point and he called both me, at home, and his Dad, at work, right before he entered the MTC.

In a way saying goodbye that last time was harder than waving at him as he walked down that long hall in the Fresno airport. How many summers have I cried when he walked that hall, leaving for the BYU Young Musicians Music Festival, thinking, "this will be what it’s like when he leaves on his mission"?

Of course I cried, but I didn’t "lose it" until we were walking back across the dark parking lot and Scott said I had "done really well."

Anyway, I’m very glad I didn’t do the orientation at the MTC. We were so blessed that Reece was there to be with Ryan and represent our family, but he said it "was sad," that "they showed a stupid movie that made everyone cry and then had us go out one door and the missionaries go out the other." We already knew that. But if it affected Reece like that I’d have been hopeless. I’ll stick with the long hallway.

I’m sure I’ll survive. Just like I did the first year of college. My pride in his good choices will buoy me up. And as Scott says, "I’ll get used to the new speed of communications." Weekly letters and e-mails versus phone calls every few days.

But if you see me for the next week expect a few tears and occasional words to come out in a range only dogs can hear. Sorry in advance.

I figured it out today: Ryan is not attached to my apron strings. I attached my heartstrings to his shoelaces! So they’re just a bit stretched right now.
Hurrah for Israel!

(Photos will come home with Reece.)

PS
Ryan is doing much better than his boo-hooing family! He had already met another Elder headed to Orlando on the shuttle.

And if you’d like to write him there is a service at DearElder.com that will (for FREE!) print out and deliver your letter to him in the MTC. Same day service if you send it in before noon Mountain Time. It is free, but you do have to sign up for an account. Oh, and they’ll deliver letters in Florida, too, but of course it costs a bit then (42 cents, I think). But they took the hard part out of letter writing – the getting it into the mail!