My grandson is coming for a weeks visit and I am not happy about it at all....

I'm so sorry! I don't know what to say.

This is called the sweet lovely anger.... You have so much love on your grandson. yes, it is really a painful feeling that our loved ones are going away from us without knowing how long they will leave us....

I know how you feel about that. I am dealing with a similar situation but it is my own daughter. She has chosen a life of corruption and she is due with our very first grandbaby in September. We will not see her or the baby as long as she is living like she is living. It is so sad because we wanted so much better for her but she doesn't.

Aww that's really sad. Saying goodbye is indeed difficult. When I left home a few months ago, I didn't say the words goodbye at all. I know if I say it I'll start crying. I just smiled and waved.

OMGOODNESS yes. I didn't even know I was going to have to say goodbye which made it worse. I have four children who don't live with me. When their father and I were going through our divorce he sought to fight me bitterly for them. I don't even get to see them now unless on FB. He does not want me to see my kids which is the most horrible thing anyone could do. He has all but turned them against me. I know they love me, but it's hard to tell with him in the way. I have missed them for so long I have almost given up on having a relationship with them. I am still fighting with him. My oldest son who is now almost 18 says I need to stop fighting for something I am never going to get. He sounds like his father so much. I just wish this was all a bad dream and I could wake up any moment now. Unfortunately, it's not a dream. I am very much in a real live situation. I wish my ex would get a clue. I am just so tired. We have been divorced now for six years and he is still grudge holding and attempting to keep me away from my kids. Out of all my situations and as much as I like to stay positive, it is stretch for me where he is concerned. I hated him for so long. I strongly dislike him now. The hate was killing me slowly.

Hi Jill- I'm sorry you have to go through this in the effort to keep this country free! I applaud you and your family for making this tremendous sacrifice, for it is the greatest sacrifice a family can make so we can know the security of strolling around our own backyards, grocery shop and come and go to work without the fear of being blown up! I do know that the armed services go to great lengths to ensure all mail going to our troops overseas actually make it to the person it's addressed to. If not, somehow or another they can find out in the blink of an eye. Grandparents are given a great deal of attention. A friend of mine used to put "grandma" under her name in the return address giving her grandson the nick name Grandi. My brother-in-law, in Vietnam told his mother the guys thought yo yos would be a nice quiet toy to monkey with during down time. She sent off a box of them, one for each man in his platoon, giving him the nick name yo yo. Your time with him now will be bittersweet. Get a picture of him to put on the wall with his military address next to him. Make sure that if nothing else he sends you his address every time it changes. You will be able to create memories to last a lifetime. Knowing you, you will think of all kinds of creative ways to make his tour less painful and seem shorter. He will share this with all his buddies over there and his friends when he returns home. Fill your heart with pride and the knowledge you will now be able to make a difference.

While I'm not a grandmother of a person in the military, I do have a small idea of how you feel. My step-son Cory is 20, and joined the Marines. Because of my husband's and my situation, he's in the United States, and we are living in Canada, so we have not been able to see him in a very long time. He joined the Marines when he turned 20, and we were worried S I C K !!! Then he turned up in Japan, and we knew he was safe. My advice is to enjoy the time you do have, and don't spend the whole week worrying the time away. Live every moment, and enjoy it. Hold onto those happy memories when he is gone. Do you, or does he, or do his parents, have any idea of what kind of deployment? Will be be in a safe place like Cory, or will they send him off to war somewhere?

I am so sad for you right now. I have had to say goodbye to family members before not knowing when I would see them again, but that is only because they live far away.

I am sorry that you have to say goodbye to hime for who knows how long! I know if I was in that situation I'd most likely lock him up in the closet and tell him he's not going into the army! It's a scary thing, and something I'd only really like anyone I knew to do IF THEY were just going to be a desk segeant or something. I hope that he will be able to visit you as well before and after his deployment!

Aww, I wish him well! No.. I've never really had any of those kinds of goodbyes. The closest I am to that is the elderly people in our lives.. I'm more or less unsure IF I'll ever see them again.. even if they live around the corner. I'm truly expecting hubby's father and aunt to pass anyday now. They're 76 and 80 and not in the best of shape. Won't be long, I know that much forsure.

There are many of times I say good bye to people not know when I would see them next. But I have a friend who has a son in a defence force and the way they keep in touch is via facebook. I know it is not the same but you can always keep in touch. I have friends and family I don't get to see much but with facebook or any other social type site is always good to keep in touch with loved ones. Some friends I don't get to see. I am hoping one day one friend will come to visit but after that visit, I don't know if that friend will be back.

I can understand you well. because i have the same boat, when i am working in another city, and i didn't want to say goodbye to my parents, the same to them. But them can understand me, and they say some comfortable words .so you should undertand him. He must know you love him. if you cna't decide the result, you just can love him.

Well my first thought is although the army can be dangerous it doesn't mean that this is goodbye for good. If he spends time with his family in germany maybe you can arrange to visit at the same time so you can see him again. Even if he wasn't in the army, his life is going to keep moving and there isn't always time for travel and visiting family or at least it is not the priority. I think you can make a bit of the effort to keep in touch via letters, email, phone calls, facebook, etc.. and make the effort to see him when he takes time off with the rest of the family. If you want to see him make the effort. As for goodbyes just have a good time and make sure he leaves feeling that he wants to come back and see you again. Maybe he will suprise you.