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Will made it home this weekend! So glad to have him back.
- I was running a tad bit behind getting to the airport – not late just a bit behind my preferrred schedule. The one lot I always park in was full as was my back up lot. So the third lot it was. NOT. There was one lane going in and a car broke down getting their parking ticket. I was the last of the ones in a position to turn around so I parked in my new favorite lot.
- Flight was uneventful. I was able to upgrade my flight to first class and I love the little dixie cups of cheap chardonnay you get. My side kick was a regional VP for a company I used to work for so I had someone to talk to and it went very quickly, as did the wine.
- Got to the hotel and immediately booked it to my room to dump my stuff so I could meet S. She had some t-shirts for Will and me and made Olivia a doll. THEN she whipped out the super delicious Tres Leches Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. Yum only begins to describe it. We chatted it up for a couple of hours and then turned in for our upcoming day.
- Since it was waaay expensive for the cab ride to the hotel, I decided to book a car for us to pick up Saturday morning to drive into DC (we actually stayed in Sterling). We got up Saturday morning and had a nice little breakfast at the hotel and hopped the hotel shuttle to the airport to pick up our car. Driver asked where. I answered Hertz. We get there and start standing in line and it hit me….our car wasn’t at Hertz. It was at Enterprise. Grrrrr. She is such a great sport. For those who have never traveled thru Dulles, you can’t just waltz over to the next counter. Nope. It was a shuttle ride back to the terminal to catch the Enterprise shuttle to their terminal. She’s such a great spirit and was appearing to laugh with me but I really think she was laughing at me. Car debacle fixed.
- We ate a delicious lunch at a little bakery and I had a sandwich on poblano cheddar bread. Yummy. Then we set off for our tour of the city.
- We then went to Penn Station and it was delightful. We made a potty break and you know us girls line the seat with t.p. if there are no seat liners. Well, when I got up, one part of it was gone so I thought it fell into the potty. I was washing my hands when this lady comes up and tells me something. I thought she told me I had cute pants. NO! I had toilet paper hanging out the back of them. Suh-weet.
- We finished up our day and headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. I convinced her to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory again. We enjoyed some cocktails and I had the.best.dessert.evah. Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake. Yes, one of my favorite desserts has been coupled with cheesecake and it is a true match made in a baker’s kitchen.
- We settled in for the night and headed out the next day for our tour to Arlington National Cemetery. After that it was time for me to head off to the airport. I hugged her tight and told her I would invite myself up to their place this summer to visit. (hee hee)
- Good thing I left early b/c all the stuff the Charlotte airport let me fly with, Dulles cut me to the quick on. I had a couple of more cups of dixie cup delight and enjoyed the late nite flight home.
- Arrived home safely. All’s well.
Great time. Can’t wait to do it again.
I’ve added a link to my side bar for a company named GCS Distributing. They have given me permission to link to them so you all can view their website and the tribute videos they have created; they show a more “personal” view using pictures from war veterans. You will see here what you may not see other places. I would encourage everyone to visit and to have some tissues handy. The videos do have music in them.
This past weekend I took a little road trip up to D.C. to meet Koli’s mom. This was the first time we met and I must tell you, she is more fantastic than I envisioned her to be and we had a fun, fun time. The “stuff” part of the trip update will follow but this is more of a “my soul was touched” post.
I absolutely loved D.C.(it’s the first time I’ve been there in about 2o years and then it was only a trip through the Smithsonian on our way to NYC. ) This time I had a wonderful tour guide; she showed me all the sights. I thanked many of our troops for their service; some were on their way home for mid deployment R&R others were visiting D.C., too. None the less, I shook their hand, gave out 3 hugs and said thank you to all. I stopped in at the USO at the airport to say hi to the volunteers who staff it. It’s what I do. It’s what I believe in. Response is usually always good but one soldier in particular stood out because of comments he made. He was in the airport and I was waiting for my flight to D.C. and we started chatting. After a few minutes, he asked me what Will did and by this time we had quite the audience hanging on to our conversation. When I told him his job, the soldier looked me dead square in the eyes and asked, “you know what he does, right?” I answered yes with the strongest smile I had to try and not show concern in it. The next thing he said to me floored me. “All I can say is you need to pray and pray a lot. Both of you.” I was so taken aback by those words and apparently it showed through on my face because he then told me that he was glad there were soldiers such as Will who performed these tasks because they were extremely important but extremely dangerous. I shook his hand again, told him good-bye and I left to go board my flight. I know he meant no harm and certainly didn’t mean to upset me and it didn’t to the point of tears but it did as it tugged on my heart strings and it set my mind rolling for what I would see in the days ahead and I walked the streets of our nation’s capital.
As we walked to the different landmarks and memorials, my heart was touched. It was touched because of what they stand for. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial gave me goosebumps. As I ran my hands over the names touching them and reading notes that were left at the base of the wall, it brought tears to my eyes. There were notes of thanks, drawings by children and a poem written in 1999 by a high school senior who later joined the military and lost his life in Iraq in 2005. It was very quiet and nothing more than whispers. Arlington National Cemetery also humbled my soul. It is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever seen. We watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Every time his heels clicked as he turned, my heart skipped a beat and it ached.
I took quite a few pictures and I flipped through them several times reading the over and over the words on the monuments. As I wound down at night, I remembered how important of a role we all play in the making of our country’s history. How our choices and our attitudes affect the outcome of so many things; the good and the bad.
I saw so much hate towards Bush, whole stores dedicated to it, and was even invited to a picnic to impeach him. My response: Sorry, he’s my husband’s boss. It is not up to me to judge his decisions. It’s not up to me to question policy. It’s my job to support those who work so hard and tirelessly for the things we all are supposed to believe in. And I do. I do it with pride ignoring those who say I’m wasting my time. A brother or sister in need is never a waste of time, not in my eyes anyway.
As soon as I landed I called Will and the first thing I told him was how proud I am of him and I’m proud he fights for what he believes in and I, in turn, will fight for him and those who are like him. They are his brothers and sisters; our extended family, so to speak. As long as I’m able, no one who needs comfort will go unnoticed. That goes for on the home-front and abroad. Why? It’s what I believe in.
*******UPDATE********
After reading a couple of comments and emails, I thought I should go back and clarify what I commented on about Bush. Where we are in NC we just don’t see the type of expression I saw in DC and it just surprised me is all. I’m not naive and I know there are all sorts of opinions and that is fine. Not all military families are Republicans and proponents of war. I get asked a bajillion times over how I feel about Bush. It doesn’t matter how I feel about him, hence my stance on questioning policy, etc. I truly believe there are higher powers that be who know a heck of a lot more than we do and I trust that they will work to the best of their abilities. We certainly appreciate all the support that is given to my family and others like us.
I’m fortunate enough to have great readership and I’ve only had a couple of instances where people have chosen to use my comments to slam me or my choices. The most recent was the end of last week. Some time back I wrote this post after O’s doctor left and the crappy service I received from the receptionist. It blew over and I moved on.
This comment was left April 20, which I have since deleted:
Author : joab
Comment:
I think that you over reacted. It seems utterly pointless to ponder the question ” What if I was one of the women who was extremely sensitive to not having kids of her own? “. You weren’t offended by that remark, but you recommended that someone lose their job for that anyway? And, if you’re going to blog about your over estimated self importance, at least use proper grammar.
I tried to email my response but since the coward left a fake email address, I’m sure he or she will graze back by to see if I’ve responded. I say that not with “over estimated self importance” but confidence as that is what trolls do.
While I always appreciate people who stop by and read my blog and leave comments, I think yours is just a tad bit out of line and think it was quite ballsy of you to leave such an asinine comment. According to my blog stats, you found mine by searching “doctor office staff rude.” Does Yampa Valley Medical Center know you use your work time to surf blogs?
First of all, my grammar is fine. If you are referring to the use of “Them” it was what I simply called the office girl vs. Sally, Susie or Jane. It’s what I started with and continued with.
Secondly, when I posted that if it were up to me she would be gone, it was because of her attitude and “customer service.”
Thirdly, my self importance is not over estimated and for you to judge as such based on one visit is absurd and if it is, why should you care?. I am one of the least self absorbed people anyone will ever meet. So my question to you is this: what puts you in such a position that you feel you have the power to criticize my self importance? Oh, wait, that would make you a hypocrite. You did pretty much what you accuse me of doing…different scenario, different words, same thing.
It’s not a shock, but this is *GASP* my blog and I’ll blog about what I choose and how I choose. Should you ever happen back on my blog, I would kindly ask that you refrain from asinine comments that slam me or anyone. Better yet, exercise your choice to stay away and neither of us will have to be bothered.
Susan
“Patriotism is keeping the peace while others are off fighting for it.”
–Carole Marsh
I do volunteer work for several different groups, one of which is Soldiers’ Angels. I am on their letter writing team which means I send letters to different service members who may not otherwise receive any mail. Olivia and I use the last bit of time before bed as craft time making cards and I hand write a personal message in each one of them.
I am expanding on this a bit and have started a project for our troops called “Applauding You” and I’d like to see if it’s possible to enlist help from some of you.
I am personally supplying hand print cut outs and have been contacting schools to have students write their name and maybe a well wish for our troops on them. I will be taking them and stringing 10 of them together to make a banner to send to our troops stationed far away from home. My original goal was 1000 but I am pretty close to reaching that so my new goal is 2000! If you are a teacher, work closely with your child’s school, or know someone who may want to help, email me via the link in the side bar and I will forward you an email with more details. I know it’s close to the end of the year but I would really like to make this happen. Everyone loves children and so many of these folks are parents who are far away from home and I know it would mean so much.
Tonight on the way home we were at a stoplight and Olivia shouts “DADDY.” Will has a white truck and the guy who pulled up next to us was driving one. After explaining where daddy was, she totally blew me off and started waving and screaming “HI” at the top of her lungs. Dude was totally entertaining her! He smiled, she smiled. He waved, she waved. She blew a kiss (YES) and he blew one back (YES). He was awfully cute, too. But, like I told Will, he was driving a white Excursi0n so that means he probably has his own brood and we’re not willing to sacrifice any attentions. So, off to home it was…me and my little flirty girl to finish a surprise for daddy and his soldiers.
I got the wild “hare” to make some bunnies for O’s class for Easter. You may notice the bunnies have no whiskers. That’s because gluing pipe cleaners to foam is hard and pinning the little heart shaped nose on there made it even worse. So, no whiskers.
So, finally a picture of the fabulous Miss O’s big girl bed. She loves it and it’s nice to not be laying on an air mattress anymore. The sheets are the most fabulous part of the whole thing. I bought the sheets from Lands End.com and I knew they had the ruffle on the pillow case and at the top of the top sheet . That’s not the fabuloso part..the fabuloso part is the top sheet is fitted at the bottom just like the bottom sheet. That kicks butt! I may be the only one in the free world who didn’t know about them but I sure do love it. If they had them like that in king size I would replace every sheet set we own.
The bed rails are from One Step Ahead. I like the concept in that they meet under the mattress so there is no sliding but it makes it super hard to make the bed nice and smooth and only one side folds down. However, it serves the purpose of keeping O from rolling off and that’s what I need.
Hmmm…not so much right now. I have lots of pictures and updates to post but I just can’t seem to get it done. Now you’re asking, “well, if you can post this, why can’t you just update?” Oh, if it were only that simple.
Will is on his annual training for the National Guard. Two weeks? Hah. I laugh at you. One month. While I’ve always held a high regard for single parents, I have a new found respect for them. Warrior weekends are one thing but this is really tough. With my regular job, Olivia, contract work I do, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, etc., I’m running on empty. I’ve worked a minimum of 65 hours a week (in addition to home stuff) and I haven’t been to sleep before 2 a.m. in a long time and I’ve caved just about every night to let her watch ” ‘rella” before bedtime. I guess I should be thankful the Disney Princess has such attention holding power so I can wind us down. This past Friday night she stayed with Shanny so I could get some of my contract work done. Other than a few tears along the way, they did great (O’s tears, Shanny didn’t say if she shed any or not 
).
I picked her up late Saturday afternoon and we had a delicious dinner and O and I headed off for some shoe shopping. The phrase of the afternoon, “oooh, Jia-Jia need shoes.” Will called and asked her what she was doing and she said, “shoes, daddy. Jia-Jia need shoes.” Along with knowing about shopping, she knows “monies” and counts it out. She knows the difference between cash and credit – not on purpose, she just does. While she is picking up the art of being a teenage girl at the age of 2, we are still instilling the toddler basics in her: counting, colors, animal sounds, alphabet, etc. I admit I love it. She’s a girly girl with a streak of mountain man in her so I’ve got the best of both worlds. She rocks out to Bon Jovi and knows to count to four when she hears the beginning of “It’s My Life” and since it’s the live version, she cheers with the crowd in the background. I will know it’s been pushed to far when she says that he’s one of the few who can carry off tight jeans and feather bangs. Until then, my girl knows good music and I love to see her boogie from the back seat.
Friday afternoon on our way home, we were passed by a guy on a motorcycle. She belted out, “PAPA.” My initial reaction was to tell her papa was at home and we would see him another day but then it hit me. She had been at my mom and dad’s a WEEK earlier and saw papa’s motorcycle and now whenever she sees a motorcycle she associates it to her papa. It’s the same way with a tractor trailer…she always says “daddy” when she sees one but then I ask her what color the truck is and she’ll say, “Oh, not red. Daddy red truck.” She knows that big trucks go “honk-honk” and little trucks go “beep-beep.” We were at a stop light and she did the arm gesture and said threw out a “honk-honk” and she got her first trucker honk. Scared her at first but then she wanted more. He was more than gracious to accomodate her.
Operation Big Girl Bed is going really well. I still have to lay down with her at night, which I don’t mind at all, but she pretty much sleeps through the night without any problems. She only vaulted out the first night. She fidgets for about 20 minutes before she goes to sleep and I lay there with my eyes closed pretending to sleep so she will go and I’ll feel an odd feeling…I open my eyes and there she is smiling in my face – almost nose to nose – telling me “mommy sleep now, okay?” I can’t help but giggle and she gives me more bunny kisses (nose rubbing) and settles back in. She’s such a little person and I love having conversations with her.
I’m still trying to finish my cookbook. I’m *hoping* to have it submitted really soon. I’m about a month behind on getting it done but it’s only a few little details to finish up. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.
I’ve gotten a few emails about this so I’ll go ahead and tell you what I know. In the news last week and over the weekend, it was announced that National Guard brigades are going to be called back to Iraq; three states were named with a 4th one not yet named. This is mainly troop rotation and not part of the ramp up. Yes, we are preparing for a second deployment to Iraq and we have been for quite some time. Although it’s not been formally announced and it probably won’t be for some time, it’s a matter of when vs. if and we’ve known this for quite a while. Will’s unit was one of the first ones to go in 2003 and while their readiness level isn’t quite where it needs to be, it’s coming. All roads have pointed there for many months and we are working hard to make sure we have our lives in as good an order as possible. I’ve gotten some comments from those who know he changed from the Navy reserves to the NG, “Wow. He should have stayed where he was.” Not true. They left in January. Am I concerned? Greatly. Am I scared? Yes. Am I ready for another deployment? As much as I can be. How will I handle it? The same way thousands of other families are; day to day. I am no different than them except you know me. There may be a chance it won’t happen and that would be great but we are living realistically and planning for it so we don’t get caught unprepared. The best of it: we’re ready if it happens. The worst of it: he’s got gear for his remaining guard career if it doesn’t. My yellow ribbon is still tied to the tree in our front yard and while it’s tattered, it will remain. I’ve added another one for Koli’s brother who is leaving soon. I’ve G00gled it, I’ve researched it and I know Will is tired of hearing me ask the questions. It’s going to be a long wait and it’s going to be a long year without him home. In the meantime, we are doing as much as we can as a family and just enjoying being together. Olivia loves her daddy and he loves her more than life itself. It’s going to be tough to watch him if he has to go but I’m proud of him and I will always raise her to be proud of him, too. He believes in what he does and I believe in him. That, with our faith, will get us through.
