We've Proven Our Love Over Time So Strong.

-Lisa’s POV-

For the most part, I was miserable in Boot Camp. A lot of it spawned from missing Brian so much, but I was counting the days until I'd be able to see him. A little over five weeks in meant that there were only about three weeks left. We were closing in on July which meant it was almost the month of our graduation. Everything was settling down, and our Recruit Division Commanders, or RDC's for short, weren't screaming at us as much, and sometimes would even treat us like real humans. I obviously knew that they were faking it for the most part, and this was all their own way of shaping us for the military. One of the cooler things we've done so far was line-handling. We practiced putting a fake ship underway, and pulling it back in. Even if there was some tension and fear of getting screamed at by RDC's, it was still fun regardless.

One of the best days so far was getting fitted for service and dress uniforms which looked pretty sharp on us. We would be graduating in our dress white uniform, which was my favorite uniform of them all. I then believed that we would be getting out of here soon. We were in weapons training now, and in a few days we would be going to a simulator range, and then firing real live guns. I'd never shot a gun before, but had always wanted to, so I was excited. On top of that, trying to bring me down, was what I thought was a sinus infection. My first week in Boot Camp I had gotten a cold, and was better for a bit, but now I felt like death. I fought through it to get through each day, but I couldn't help but wonder when I was going to get better. It was affecting my performance, especially for PT. The night before a PT test, I had gotten two hours of sleep because I had the chills, was throwing up, and had watch. It was pretty miserable.

The one big thing keeping me going through this were Brian's letters that I was getting every other day. They weren't long, but they were updates about how the tour was going, and just enough to put a big smile on my face to know that I'd be seeing him soon. They were the things that helped cheer me up. Mail call was my third favorite time of the day, right behind chow time-when we got to eat, and taps-when we got to go to sleep. A good night for mail call was getting two letters, but on one particular night, I had gotten three. Two from Brian, and one from Jimmy. After taps, I laid in my bed with a smile on my face as I read all the letters in the order they were written.

(#13 June 15th) Dear Lisa,

I still haven’t heard from you, which makes me worry. I hope you’re doing okay, and nothing has happened to you. I calm myself by thinking that you just don’t have time to write. Well as usual, I miss you a lot. I can’t wait to hear from you.

The tour is going great. It’s the only thing that I can help stay distracted from the pain of missing you. Last night’s show was one of the best we’ve had. We all got hammered in this hotel in France. It was mostly myself and Jimmy, but Johnny was around too. I don’t remember much of what happened, but Jimmy has a picture of me basically laying on my head in an elevator. Also a recording of quite a memorable quote from me.

“Just so you know, you don’t play guitar with your neck bro. You play it with your bum-bum.”

I hope that brightened your day a bit. Hahaha. A pretty good amount of it was recorded by someone. Oh and apparently, pink is the new black. Who knew?

Anyways, now I’m just writing random stuff down to keep a decent letter going, and to also try and make your day a little brighter. To put a smile on your face. I really hope I hear from you soon, before I really do start worrying even worse than I am now. I’m having trouble thinking of what else to say here. Everyone says hi, and I gave them your address too if they wanted to send letters. I think Jimmy sent one today. I need to get ready for the show now. I love you.

Love, Brian

I was so glad to hear from him, but obviously annoyed because of the delay. Letters from my parents were taking only two days. They also were still in the states, so I knew I shouldn’t complain. I opened the second one from Brian and read it.

(#14 June 16th) Dear Lisa,

I finally got your letter! It took about a week for it to get here, but I finally got it, and it was great to hear from you! I already have it planned that I’m going to fly out from here on the 17th, be at your graduation, and spend that weekend with you. Just give me the details on how long you have for free time so I know when I have to fly back out here. I’m keeping this short for now because we have to unload the bus.

It’s annoying that there’s a bad delay in these letters, but as long as I can hear from you every week it’s fine. I’ll continue to write as much as I can. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we can actually talk on the phone, or email, or whatever. I miss you so much, baby. Today I had a talk with Valary, and she helped me see things in a better perspective. I know I’ll be seeing you soon now. I’m excited. I’m counting the days. Love you.

Love, Brian.

I was glad to hear that he had gotten my letter finally. I laid there smiling for a moment before I opened Jimmy’s letter. His letter had a picture in it. The picture that Brian told me about. I laughed as I moved on to read the letter.

Hey Lisa,

It’s Jimmy, if you hadn’t guessed. Brian gave us all your address too if we wanted to write. He misses you so much, but he’s doing well with the separation for the most part. There’s times he’s a little annoying with saying that he misses you, but we all understand.

I do want to thank you though. Thank you for making him happy. He had been miserable for the past month until he met you. You brought out something lively in him, and we’re all glad to see him like this. We say it’s annoying when he goes on about missing you, but we’re glad at the same time. It shows how much he really loves you, and in turn makes us happy that you came into his life and are helping him out. We all appreciate it, but I think I do the most. He and I, in my opinion, are the closest friends out of everybody, so seeing him like this is great. I wish we all could be out there for your graduation, but we obviously can’t. We’ll be there in heart though. Thanks so much for making my best friend happier than ever.

-Jimmy

I smiled after reading Jimmy's letter. I knew I made Brian happy, but I didn’t know of the impact it had on everyone else. It was something that made me feel great. Tonight I was going to sleep well I hoped. My body still ached, and my sinuses felt like they were going to explode, but I knew that I'd sleep better than I had been. I knew because in two days, we were going to fire real guns, and after that, if things went well, we were going to get phone calls. Brian had an international plan on his phone, which meant be could receive and make calls even while overseas. If he got a phone call from me, even if it woke him up, he wouldn't care. I knew that he'd be glad to hear my voice as much as I want to hear his. He'd be glad to hear me say that I was doing much better than I was at first, and to hear me say that we were almost done. I tucked the letters into my small personal drawer before laying down to try and get comfortable on this pad. Once I laid down, I did manage to relax a bit, and fall asleep with a smile on my face.