Posh Paws and Staff Duty

I sit in disbelief that it has been two weeks since my last blog post. Somewhere between hiking Tiger Mtn and hanging out today with Dereck at the motor pool there has been a ton of life going on! Since I last wrote, the Kennedys have been happily settling into Ft. Lewis, or Joint Base Lewis McChord as we are officially called since joining with the neighboring Air Force base. Secretly I want to rebel against JBLM since no one outside this immediate area is going to know what the heck I am talking about, and just think about writing out "Joint Base Lewis McChord" on an envelope- too much work. Therefore, I have decided to start an underground rebellion of calling my post what it is: Ft. Lewis. Feel free to join the movement and write your local congressman. I am also trying to write this while watching "Cake Boss," something I normally avoid by sitting at my desk with no distractions. I figured I would multi-task tonight though because Dereck has staff duty that began at 9am and ends at 9am tomorrow. Staff duty is one of those four letter words to Army wives that means your husband is in the immediate area, but must man a desk in case of emergencies, like some soldier lighting the battalion barracks on fire. Luckily, Dereck is there with an NCO and Private and between junk food, movies, and video games, they should make the shift end quick enough. I did however get to see Dereck while he worked at the motor pool, and I sat on a big Army box working out our budget- gotta be adult sometime. Army TA-50, or equipment, has a very distinct smell, and it is something that you never really think about, but also never seem to forget and can identify ten miles around. Even this very moment I can smell it on my jeans.

So here is a quick recap since the Tiger Mtn day. Sunday, I had another Military Wife Support Group bible study, and each time we meet we have a dinner theme. That week the theme was soup and salad, so I volunteered to bring my mom's Celebration Cheese Soup, which I love making due to it requiring the food processor. Dereck even got in on the action and chopped the carrots, celery, and green onions in the processor before they got sauteed. Once we made the soup and started the crock pot, Dereck informed me that I should bring home any leftovers for him to munch on. That night when I returned however, I came with an empty crock pot. Turns out that the soup was a hit, and people wanted the recipe from me- take that all doubters of my cooking finesse! The look on his face when he saw the empty pot was priceless, and needless to say, I am planning on making a pot just for him this upcoming week. I also had the joy of getting allergy tested, and pricked 20 million times. The most awful part of it all though was the wait in the pharmacy to get an Epi Pen. I wandered in, punched a button, and then saw that they were serving number 298, meaning my number was only a mere 110 numbers off! I didn't even know that you could have that big of a difference! So I sat there until I realized if Dereck was there with me in uniform, I could get my medicine faster and get out of the sea of retirees watching "The Price is Right." Luckily, he had a lunch break and came to my rescue- I can only imagine that after the hours of waiting for the 110 number gap to close I might have started having some gray hair of my own.

To fast forward, we hit last weekend: Draffen wedding weekend. The Draffens are family friends that have been around since I was a little toddler in Ft. Leavenworth, and our parents are even concocting crazy dreams of building a retirement compound in New Braunfels Texas. We'll have to wait and see whether that ever comes to fruition. It felt like it took 20 years to reach Lawrence, Kansas where the wedding was, and it took Dereck and I a full day of flying to get into Kansas City. All I have to say is that the trip is so much better in the air than on the ground. Kansas City to Lewis took over 3 days and miles of madness. Between the beer and basketball madness that is Kansas, we had a great time at KU, and I liked the downtown stretch a ton. The wedding of course was the best part, and I have to admit that I got a little teary-eyed watching someone I knew since I was 3 get married. I can only imagine that the upcoming weddings back home are going to be major tear-jerkers also- need to have some serious tissues. I asked Dereck after the ceremony if we could renew our vows yet, and he said to give it another 24 years or so, when we could afford it. We even managed to get my dad on the dance floor, which is no small feat. When we got to Kansas, I was curious to see if I would remember anything about Leavenworth, but when my parents took me there on Sunday, I barely remembered our old house. Mom pointed out an eagle statue at a VFW building and told me that I used to demand to pet it every single time that we drove or walked by. Dereck thought this was hilarious and told me to "pet the eagle" the rest of the weekend. Fun fact: the town outside Ft. Leavenworth has a state jail, federal jail, and the post has a military jail. That's right: three jails in one town. The creepiest thing though was that the military jail is literally next to senior officers' quarters, and anyone looking out a jail cell window would see a tricycle and hula hoop across the street. No thanks!

Getting home Sunday turned into an adventure when our flight to Salt Lake City was delayed (bad weather coming in from NY) just enough to make us potentially miss our connection to Seattle. Delta gave us the option of taking a flight to Portland and then getting a rental car (paid out of pocket, mind you) or taking stand-by for a later flight in to Seattle. The only kink to all this? Dereck had field training the entire next week that started at 2am Monday, meaning a later flight or Portland connection put him really close to being late. So, we sat on our late plane and anxiously waited to touch down. When we landed Dereck sprinted off the plane to our connecting gate, and I waited on our pink tag bags before running the sprint of my life to our connection. By the grace of God, Dereck got to the desk as they were preparing to give our seats to stand-by people, and when I finally got there I felt like my lungs might literally rip into pieces. Apparently spin class is not a good prep for sprinting through an airport with two rolling bags, a jacket, and purse. My hope is that it evened out with how much wedding cake I ate the night before. We were soooo thankful to have a happy ending to the story and panting on the next plane for 10 minutes was completely worth it. We got home just in time for Dereck to pack and kiss me bye before heading out for training for five days (think full out camping trip with other unbathed and stinky soldiers).

This last week I have been taking Army Family Team Building Level 2 classes. This is just like the AFTB class I took several weeks before, but more detailed and with more complex issues. The classes fell from 5:30-9pm, and I have to admit that I am the worst person at listening when hungry. Normally by 9pm I was either about to eat my arm or barf from pure chocolate and candy intake. Some of the people from Level 1 were there, and the new additions were fun; we jelled well as a class, and I think the conversations really benefited from it. I also had the chance this last week to hang out with my neighbor Holly and new friend Scarlett at the PWOC bible study. Scarlett and I even got invited to a girls' night next week, so hopefully I will be able to report good times on that front. The evenings while Dereck was in the field I got to watch whatever I wanted on TV and secretly ate junk food, and he'll never know! Of course I missed him, but living single for a short while was fun too. By the time he got home on Friday we were ready to have quality time over the weekend, until he got hit with staff duty, as I mentioned at the beginning. So here I am wearing my pajamas at 8pm, watching TV, and typing to my heart's content. The Army is all about sacrifices- on one side at least. My favorite part of today is that during Dereck's lunch break from staff duty we visited a store called Posh Paws to dream about puppy stuff. I told Dereck that it was my nesting instinct making me want to get ready for the puppy, but I think he liked the store just as much as me. They have some super cool dog toys out there now. The crowd pleaser for the Kennedys was a tennis ball that attaches to a plastic arm that makes it throw really far. Dereck claims that he doesn't need it. I say that we will have to wait and see. I also tried to tell him that the puppy needs a raincoat, I mean we live in Seattle, where else could a dog need a raincoat more? I can picture it now: walking in the rain while wearing matching yellow raincoats and splashing through puddles. Could happiness be any more simple? I dare say no.