It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

Yesterday was a day that my family has been dreading for a while...my little brother, Joe, left for the army. I took a vacation day to spend as much time with him as I could. On Monday night, Kevin and I went over and played chicken scratch (or the game of the devil as we call it) til around 10 at night.
Tuesday, I went to mom's house and just chilled out while Joe went through his crap trying to pack up what he needed. He gave me his "Chicken Robot" dvd which I am way excited to watch and Kevin and I inherited his bed...I need to sanitize it with acid first, but I am thankful to finally get to sleep on a normal bed. Kevin and I have been sleeping on a suped up futon that I have had since I was 16...not the greatest on the back. Now we have a bed for our spare bedroom so people don't have to sleep on our couches when they come over, which will be nice.
So anyways...side track. My grandparents came over to say goodbye to Joe and that is probably the worst time I had with the whole goodbye thing. Just the look on my papa's face about killed me. After that emotional train wreck, we went to sandusky to pick up his shipping papers. Jake rode with me and we talked the entire way. That was nice, cause when the rest of the family is around, he doesn't really talk about him and his life...he just jokes. We ate at Olive Garden and then I had to say my goodbye. I thought for sure I would cry, but we just gave each other a huge hug, said I love you to each other, made our usual jokes about not taking the red pill, and said goodbye. I am very excited for him and know that he will do great. The only thing I can do now is be supportive, so I am trying to let that over-ride my saddness. I know that he would be upset if we all continued to be debby-downers. All I can do is write witty letters to let him know I am here for him. I sure will miss him though.