Headed to El Paso

No, not me. My wife.

With Jordan in North Carolina, completing week No. 2 of a three-week training camp that he hopes will lead to a spot in Special Forces, now seems a good time for Lori to go visit Jamie and get a glimpse of life on and near an Army base.

Later this morning, I will take her to the airport and she will visit our daughter-in-law through the weekend, returning late Monday. Except for a layover in Houston enroute to Oaxaca four years ago, this will be Lori's first time in the Republic of Texas.

I've been to El Paso a couple times before. It's about the same size as Portland but different in just about every way -- geography, climate, demographics, politics, economy, etc. It's home to Fort Bliss, which I just learned is the Army's second-largest installation behinid the White Sands Missile Range in neighboring New Mexico.

Don't know just exactly what the two Oregon ladies will do, but I'm sure they'll have fun just being in each other's company. As for me, I'll take advantage of the long weekend to freshen up my materials for the class ("Opinion and the Blogosphere") that I'll be teaching a couple weeks from now at Portland State.

Photo by Nima Kasraie, who's originally from Iran. (The things you learn with a click of a mouse continue to amaze me. Look for yourself.)

They're engaged!

OK, so a few friends and family had their suspicions, especially after the "Summer's home stretch" entry that began this month's blog posts. But, yes, it's official: Jordan and Jamie are engaged to be married!

Lori and I are very, very happy for them. We've seen their four-year relationship evolve from what seemed like puppy love (boy has crush on girl at summer camp) to a healthy bond that's survived periods of separation (she in Denver to complete vet tech school, he in Portland) to a romantic commitment that made it all but inevitable he'd propose to her over the Labor Day weekend.

That was the reason for the trip to Southern Oregon. Lori and I knew he'd propose -- we just didn't know when or where. Like a true gentleman, Jordan arranged to meet beforehand with Jamie's stepdad, Jeff, to tell him of his intentions and ask for hios blessing. That was Friday night, before all six of us went to dinner at Miguel's, a Mexican restaurant on the banks of the Rogue River as it flows through Shady Cove.

The next day we all went on a hike (described in the post "A weekend in Southern Oregon") that ended around 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a Forest Service road. The young couple arrived together and Jamie went straight to Jeff to share the news. With cheeks bursting and the engagement ring flashing on her left hand, she embraced him in a long, emotional hug. Turns out Jordan had proposed to her midway through the hike, when they were ahead of us on the trail, overlooking a magnificent meadow and the mountains.

What's next?

Depending on when Jordan can get leave from Fort Bliss, they'll most likely try to get married before the end of the year -- possibly at Thanksgiving, possibly just before Christmas. We're thinking the ceremony probably will be in the Medford area, maybe even on a portion of the horse ranch where Jamie and her sisters grew up.

The thinking is, the sooner they get married, the sooner she can move to El Paso to join him for however many months he'll be there before being deployed overseas -- either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Jordan will turn 22 on Dec. 31 -- the same age Lori and I were when we were married in 1975, a year after we'd graduated college. Jamie is a couple years older. They may seem young by today's standards but they are both mature and responsible and it's plain to see they are truly, deeply in love.

Summer's home stretch

How did we get here so fast? Wasn't it just a few weeks ago we were sweltering during a stretch of hundred-degree weather that topped out at 106? And now here we are, at 57 degrees as I type this, headed toward a modest high of 79 today. Ah, Oregon...

It's been a busy summer: a college graduation, a trip to Georgia, a family reunion, a couple of visits to the family cabin, Jordan moving out, Nathan moving in, possible changes at work for Lori and me. And now September has arrived.

On Friday, Jordan will arrive for a four-day visit over the Labor Day weekend, his first time away from Fort Bliss in El Paso since arriving there after completing basic training in early July. We haven't heard from him in a while, which makes me think he and his fellow soldiers are busy ramping up their training. He had complained mildly about too few guys being assigned to Bliss. The manpower shortage, coupled with a delay in getting enough training equipment, meant they didn't have much to do other than daily physical training and complete endless rounds of paperwork.

If and when they reached critical mass, they'd be able to begin training in earnest in the advanced infantry skills they'll need when their company is deployed, eventually, to either Iraq or Afghanistan. From my point of view, the longer the delay the better, given the continuing instability in both countries and allegations of vote fraud in the Afghanistan presidential election.

So now we'll get a status report on El Paso, Fort Bliss and life in general from Pvt. Rede. And along with it, an update on his girlfriend Jamie, who's working as a veterinary technician in her hometown of Butte Falls, 40 miles northeast of Medford.

She's pictured with him here on the east bank of the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Ga.

Goodbye, Oregon; Hello, Texas

We arose early today -- as in 3:30 a.m. -- in order to get Jordan to the airport by 4:15 for his flight to El Paso, via Phoenix.

The 10-day leave that began after his graduation from boot camp in Georgia came to end this weekend and PFC Rede was required to report to Fort Bliss by midnight Tuesday or face sanctions. So, with plenty of motivation and looking ahead to the next chapter as an active-duty soldier, he diligently packed up a duffel bag, a suitcase and a carry-on to see him through the next few months.

All we know of his next assignment is that it involves advanced infantry training. Where it leads from there is a question mark, with the most likely answers being Iraq or Afghanistan. Early on, Jordan considered opting for training with the Army's Airborne Division but he decided, wisely, I think, to put that off in favor of more general training so he can get a better sense of his own interests and abilities and how they might match up with different opportunities within the Army.

Already, he's heard of at least three fellow soldiers from Ft. Benning who were dismissed from Airborne school because of injuries or certain deficiencies. The standards are rigorous -- as they should be for that kind of specialty.

We enjoyed being with Jordan in Columbus and Atlanta, as well as Portland this past week. He spent a lot of time with his girlfriend Jamie but also managed to see a few friends, too, as well as a slew of relatives at this weekend's reunion.

While it was nice to see him relax in front of the TV -- watching the UFC (mixed martial arts) fights Saturday night was a priority -- two things that I saw at the beginning and end of his visit tell you everything you need to know about his character.

First, despite arriving home around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, July 13 -- six hours later than scheduled because of an unscheduled landing in Denver, due to mechanical problems -- he came into the house, immediately set down his bags, got on his knees and reached under the dining room table so he could pet Rudy, one of our two cats, whom he hadn't seen since leaving for basic training.

Second, as we were about to leave for the airport this morning (keep in mind, this is at 4 a.m.), he paused to again stroke Rudy's back and then reached into the cage where our dog Otto was resting to give him some love, too.

He may be a soldier, but he's always been a softie with animals. No wonder that Rudy was perched in Jordan's lap the night before as he sat on his bedroom floor, packing for this trip.