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| Toby |
Tuesday, the FRO (family readiness officer) offered a LINKS class. LINKS stands for: Lifestyle, Insight, Networking, Knowledge, and Skills. Are you keeping up with all these acronyms....TBS, BOQ, HUMP, FEX, FRO, LINKS! And that's just a small percentage of all the acronyms that have become part of my normal vernacular. Anyway, LINKS is a volunteer, mentoring program that is run by and for military spouses. Experienced military spouses help the newer spouses to understand and adapt to the unique challenges that military families face. These classes have been super helpful in deciphering this new military language, amongst other things. We have also had classes on establishing family plans during deployments, getting wills done, and the history and etiquette of the Marine Corps. Oh and by the way, it's pronounced CORE not CORPSE....eh hem OBAMA!!! J/K this isn't a political blog ;) AGAIN, I REPEAT, it was a joke, not trying to be political here! Did I mention that was a joke???? :)
Trying to pass another night of the FEX, a few of us decided to go to Applebees for an appetizer and a drink. Yup, I said Applebees...I know, I know....Believe me, I felt like I was living in Scranton from The Office....or was that Chilli's? Oh well, you get the idea. Anyway, over the past 5 months here I have realized how neat it has been to get to know people from all different parts of the country. Applebees was the perfect example.....Here we are, 4 girls, one from Texas, one from California, another from Philly, and the last from South Carolina, and despite all of our differences we have become great friends. We also gave the waiters quite a challenge when they checked our IDs for DOBs... :)
I have met the most amazing, generous, and thoughtful people since moving out here to Virginia, and it gives me great hope and excitment for our future in the Marine Corps. These friendships I have made here have grown so quickly in such a short amount of time, and I am so thankful for the opportunity I have had to meet each and every one of these amazing women. On that note, this past week the Marines, who are not previously contracted as Flight (as Jordan is) or JAG (lawyer), received their MOS's (Military Occupation Specialities), another acronym for you. I was so nervous, anxious, and excited for all my friends and their husbands to find out their career within the military. It was probably the biggest day of these people's lives and careers, next to their initial comissioning into the Marine Corps. It hit me that today's decisions on MOS's would determine not only the careers of these Marines, but also the lives and future of all my friends...who would be getting deployed in as little as 6 months, who would be moving to Okinawa, Japan, etc etc etc. Although most people did not get their first choice in MOS, and many were disappointed, you have to have faith that everything happens for a reason- as I will try to have to remember when Jordan goes through this when he gets his flight platform. And as much as I don't want to think about it, certain decisions such as these can make a difference in whether someone lives or dies. Thinking about things that way, makes everything very overwhelming, and just too real for me.
Last week, a Marine Flight Student died during training in Pensacola, Florida. He was just at TBS, like Jordan is now, a few months ago. Although we hear about men and women dying overseas everyday, it seems we have all unfortunately almost become too immune to this kind of news. But this one was way too real for me. I couldn't help but cry as I looked at this Marine's commissioning pictures and his TBS pictures.I couldn't help but see Jordan in this Marine. This could be my husband, a few months from now. Again, it was just too real and overwhelming for me, so as a defense mechanism, I tried to push it out of my head and pretend it never happened, so I didn't have to think about it. But then I find myself struggling with the guilt of ignoring something that is so real to this Marine's family and friends, because I didn't want to have to experience that kind of pain. Additionally, this comes on the heals of 30 Americans dying in Afghanistan, including some Navy Seals from Virginia Beach. One of our close friends at home is going through the excruciating BUDS training at Coronado in San Diego for the Navy Seals, and I couldn't help but think of him. Although, I do not claim any credit as a "military wife" because I have not had to walk the walk yet, I am already struggling with the emotional battles of the military life. I do not know how these women survive deployments, raising kids on their own, constantly being uprooted, and the fear of losing the one they love. I envy the strength of these military wives, and hope that I will posses half the courage and strength of the military wives that I am so privelged to know, do.
Anyway getting back to a lighter note, I think it is so great to get to know people from all different walks of life. We each have something unique and interesting to bring to the table. Not only do we all bring our own life experiences from different parts of the country, but we also bring our own tastes in food!! We were driving back from the movies tonight (saw The Help- almost as good as the book, and by the way, FEX night 3 of 5, done, check!!!) , the 4 of us girls started commenting on what we each missed from home. And second to friends and family of course, was FOOD! We all started talking about our favorite resturaunts from home and how frustrating it was that Ol' Stafford, VA didnt have these resturaunts.While I was missing El Pollo Loco, Rubio's and Chevy's, one of the girls from Texas, a sweet girl named Amy, was missing her Fried Okra and Fried Chicken. I asked her if Fried Okra was fish, and she about died laughing!!!! Apparently it is a fuzzy vegetable? Sounds disgusting to me...especially fried! But then again, a couple of weeks back I brought a delicious mustard dill smoked salmon appetizer (courtesy of Jordan's mom) to a get-together, and a few people looked at it like it was some exotic delicacy. Some of the girls were kind enough (or brave enough) to have some and thought it was delicious, but a good number politely passed over that dish on the buffet table. I wasn't offended though, I probably would have passed over a dish of Fried Okra if it was there as well. Oh well! I took 75% of it home, and ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because it was soooooo DE-LIC-IOUS!!!!! Regardless of what anyone thought, I could live on that recipe for the rest of my life, and nothing else! :) If anyone wants it, let me know!
Anyway in summary, I was NOT trying to make a political blog, although if Mr. President says corPSman one more time I may throw my remote at the tv or have to write him a letter!!! The movie The Help was amazing-but not as good as the book, I love meeting people from all over the country, and I will not be trying fried okra anytime soon!!!
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