Justin and I just spent a weekend with the 1% of the the nation.
It wasn't the top 1% of the nation's wealthiest people, and although the accommodations and food might have been elevated slightly, I can assure you that I would prefer the company of the group of people we were with compared to the richest of the rich.
The Navy Reserves offers (and strongly suggests/recommends) a returning deployed sailor (yes, Afghanistan has sailors there) and a family member (usually the spouse/significant other) attend a Returning Warriors Workshop. It's a full two day (Friday evening-Sunday afternoon) conference full of workshops, speakers, downtime, and group discussions between service members, their spouses (in most cases) and trained facilitators -all navy officers, mostly reservists, current and retired.
Despite a few stressors before leaving, like finding someone willing/crazy enough to take 3 kids for a weekend and dress myself in a semi-professional manner for 3 days, including a cocktail evening (I'm probably not the only stay at home mom who doesn't have a closet full of office apparel and a cocktail dress, right?), it was an enjoyable weekend away.
One of Justin's good friends (he drill's with him and replaced him in his post in Afghanistan), Kurt Daubs and his wife, Ame, attended the same conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was nice having people there that we knew (or at least Justin knew). We walked around a nearby shopping district with them Friday evening after dinner and traveled home together on Sunday. Most of the time was spent at our assigned table with a group that we stayed with throughout the weekend.
I learned a few things while we were there.
-Justin's deployment was relatively short and we were lucky with the frequency he was available online to facetime, text, email, and call. (We sort of already knew that).
- The Navy has a LOT of acronyms and nicknames. A LOT. I think I even learned a few of them.
- It was interesting to hear the terms Sailor, shipmate, in theatre, boots on ground, etc used so frequently and like everyone in the room knew exactly what they were referring to. Which, most of them did.
- Marriages survive military careers and multiple deployments.
- Not everyone has complaints about the insurance we have -so I'll probably get the hang of it eventually.
- Once a commanding officer, always a commanding officer. The first night was pretty casual, people came in when they arrived, checked in, ate dinner and had the evening to themselves basically. Daubs waited for us, and the four of us were having dinner when a guy came and sat down (very few of the officers were in uniform, only 3 were and that was at the banquet the following evening -they made a point to not have ranking be apart of the weekend). Justin and Kurt immediately straightened up and changed their demeanor because "Antonio" as his name badge informed me was a commanding officer in Afghanistan for both of them. The Sir's came out, and despite Antonio trying to get them to call him by his given name they couldn't do it. It was pretty funny. He mentioned that one of us was originally assigned to his table, but he switched it, probably because it would have hindered the process.
-If your white cardigan falls out of your purse while walking around and when you find it it's in the middle of the road and has been run over, you can probably find a suitable replacement at Target, right across the street.
-I'm very proud of Justin for wanting to join the Navy and glad that he is in it. It's not without its faults, surely, but it's a good organization, and it's important. It's very important that people still sign up and decide to serve our country in that capacity. I understand it's not for everyone, but I'm glad it's for us (for now).
-It's hard, but not impossible, to eat 'clean' while eating at a conference for a weekend. I didn't even have any sweets (even though I intended on it).
-Having kids that like spending time and are used to sleeping over with family members relieves so much stress when we have to travel. Thanks to Grandma Lafeen and Gordon and Jessica.
Hidden pudding cups -complete with spoon.
She started singing it today.
Kate's beautiful hair thanks to Jess.
- Bagpipes are apparently appropriate to bring with you on any and every trip you take and its important for you to find a time to bring them out at all events.
-We haven't even scratched the surface on stressful parenting situations (the Daubs have 3 teenage daughters)
-The Navy (military) has amazing programs and resources available, but nothing works how it's supposed to on the first try.
- The best time to get Strep throat is the evening after you return home from a conference. I mean, there's no good time to get strep throat, but I'm SO grateful that it happened as soon as I got home, and not while we were there. (4 days later I've emerged from my near death experience).
-The Navy loves awards, certificates, and challenge coins. And the spouses should too, I guess.
-When you're tracking water to get a minimum of 64 ounces a day and the cups on your table hold 6 ounces of water, you have to drink a LOT of glasses of water.
That's it. We're both glad we went and found it helpful and at the very least entertaining. Until next time, I suppose!
