We're Half Way There

Since Wes has been gone, I only cook two nights a week. We eat lots of left overs and lots of grilled cheese sandwiches or Cesear Salad from a bag. Tonight I found myself in the kitchen asking, "Are you boys gonna want to eat tonight?" While I awaited their response, I opened the fridge wondering how I could make beer and yogurt a presentable dinner when I saw the pizza box. SCORE!  I knew it was the right decision to buy two pizzas last night, and just like that the nightly dilemma is solved.

We are half way done with the deployment and half way done with my hiatus from cooking because just like Keagan, Wes is serious about his meats. Grilled cheese and salad won't be an acceptable dinner when he gets back home.

But I  will gladly buy out the meat department and whip up something fantastic when these guys and gals return!

Pinning Ceremony

I have been collecting the extra ka-ching from Wes's promotion since 01 JAN, but today was his official pinning date. It took place on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

I have no idea the name of the other officer, but I am sure he must be an upstanding man and soldier because Wes waited three weeks for his arrival so that he could do the honor. I am bummed to have missed the event for obvious reasons, but also because after fourteen years in the Army, I finally can sing the words to the Army song. I would have done you proud, Honey, with my solo! And I say solo because I just realized that they don't even play the Army song at pinning ceremonies. Maybe by retirement I will get the rituals and traditions memorized.

One question, Wes. Did you yell "Rock of the Marne" after the ceremony? They boys want to know if anyone returned your call with "Screamin' Eagles!"

Everything's Bigger in Texas...Even Fat Lips

Oh, happy day! As of today, I have Texas plates on the car driven everywhere but Texas. It has been a long fourteen years since I have been able to wear the plate of home.

The boys are proud Texans, too, even if they have never lived in the Great State. However, this picture was actually just a ploy to get Keagan in front of the camera. His big fat lip is not your imagination. He jacked up his face last night when he was playing on the perimeter of the tub, slipped on the wet surface, and hit his face on the toilet lid. There was blood, yells, blood, chipped teeth, and cries before I finally got out of him what happened. Today, too embarrassed to say that he fell and hit his lip on the toilet, he went to school and told his friends that Evan beat him up. After school, a group of first graders came to Keagan's defense, and while encircling Evan like soldiers about to launch a major attack, demanded to know why Evan would he do such a thing. Evan played it cool. He knew how nervous Keagan was about the kids learning the truth. His reply, "That's what brothers do. Now who wants to play some football?"

Keagan's secret is safe...for now.

And I have Texas plates.

Livin' High in the Highlander

Wes gets promoted, goes to the desert for a year, receives hazardous duty pay, earns separation pay, and works tax free for the year.

I buy a new car.

Fair? I think so.

And the Army Goes Rolling Along

It has been fourteen years, and I still don't know the Army song. Every time I hear it, though, it makes me smile, and I promise to go home and learn the words - all of the words beyond the catchy phrase "the Army keeps rolling along." Today was no different.

Wes gave up command this afternoon, and we participated in the change in command ceremony. Only six months on the job, but the Army keeps rolling along and new assignments are always on the horizon.

Wes's next assignment is a tour in Iraq. He leaves for training in just a few short weeks. We don't know any specifics because technically all US troops are supposed to withdraw from Iraq at the end of the year. However, the rumor is Iraq will ask for an extension and some troops will remain after the DEC 31 deadline.

I find it slightly ironic that Wes gives up command and prepares for his next assignment on the 9/11 anniversary. I can't even believe that it has been ten years since I was wrapping up my day at school in Germany (six hour time difference), and Wes called to tell me the news. It's even harder to believe that ten years later, it is still necessary to send soldiers and marines away to fight a war that was supposed to be so easy to win.

But the Army keeps rolling along. And so do we.

Life in the Slow Lane

This weekend marks one full year in Georgia. (By the way, I can't even begin to believe that is has been 367 days since we left Virginia.) Here's what I have learned after a year of living in the deep South.

1. Grits are good. Especially if you lather them in cheese and garlic. They are even better with blackened fish.

2. There is no rat race and no one really worries about getting ahead. Life is about how many trips you can take to the beach. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with this when you live within an hour's drive of many great beaches.

3. All Georgians must have some innate desire to produce fire because there is ALWAYS a fire burning in this town. They even set their own yards on fire. They will tell you that it brings new growth to the yard and a much thicker turf. Maybe so, but Scott's Turf Builder will do just the same, and you don't have to worry with burning down your house in the process.

4. We can talk like Georgians now. Keagan has the Southern drawl, Evan has the misplaced object pronouns (them chickens), and I can proceed every sentence with "honey" and "darlin."

5. Muddin' is a popular past time in Georgia. I went muddin' one time. I was 17, and after a heavy rain, my car slipped and slid in the unpaved driveway of my parents' new house. It was not done intentionally and it was extremely annoying. But in Georgia, people atually LIKE to slip and slide in the mud - mess and all. They claim it is fun.

6. Georgians, for the most part, are very friendly. They will invite you to church, wave to you on the back roads, and invite you on a weekend fishing trip. If the fishing trip invite included a boat with a working motor, I might just consider it.

7. It is possible to survive without a Target within a 10 mile radius of your house. It took several months of withdrawls for me to adjust to the big change, and I still get very giddy when I walk into a Target store when I have been away for more than two weeks. However, I have learned you can buy just about all of the store on-line. Who knew it could be that easy?

I don't know how it could already be a year because it seems like just yesterday we were finding our way through this two street town. At the most, we have two years left. Evan is hoping for an assignment in Hawaii, Keagan is hoping for Texas, and I am hoping for anything that keeps us out of Louisiana. Until then, we will continue to enjoy life in the slow lane in the deep South.