Fabulous Army Life

This is the rough-draft version of the speech I gave the night of my Farewell from the 3-82 Field Artillery Family. There was a lot of improvisation on my part as I tried to adequately thank each and every lady who attended. I was very emotional and honestly could not imagine a world without daily interaction with these fabulous ladies. At the end, I gave each attendee a magnet (pictured at the end of this blog post) that I made as a reminder of the amazing ways they had handled a multitude of stresses during our time together. I will forever treasure my time in this unit and with these Families. Best wishes always to the Red Dragons of 3-82 Field Artillery! A good friend once shared a quote with me that I have loved ever since: Stress is when your gut says ‘no’ but you’re mouth says, “Sure! I’d be glad to!” As Army spouses, we endure a multitude of stresses.  Enduring long separations, worrying about the safety of our Soldiers, learning single parenting skills, taki...

Tracey greets me with a sharp pin ... and a corsage. My mother-in-law, Linda, is honored with a corsage. The planning crew ... Ever want world peace? Assemble these ladies and it's done. Amazing table decorations by wonderfully talented ladies. Flowers and color and jewels, oh, my! Beautiful cake by Muffy Patterson, the Cake Diva! Generous gifts from big hearts. Ladies write notes for a farewell photo album. Cannot adequately describe how much these ladies mean to me. It's sunny and bright on the patio of the Dead Fish Grill! Arcy and Sarah say some really sweet things, some of which are true. :) I get through my speech with a few laughs and a few more tears. Red flowers and a red boa ... I am Artillieried up! Black Jack Babes (Missy, Angie, Suzie, Cindy, me, Trish, and Molly) My fabulous family, Rachel and Linda  Missy, Georgia, Beverly, Sarah, Kim, Angie, me, Christine, Arcy, Val, Lani, Chari, Am...

Wonderful group of ladies at the Christmas Coffee More wonderful ladies gathered in the holiday spirit. Molly and Elena worked together to host the December Coffee for our battalion spouses.  It was held at our Elena's house and was a total blast.  We had an amazing meal, shared homemade cookies, and participated in a very fun ornament exchange.  I am very thankful for this amazing group of ladies!

Coffee Group members stuff "Boo" bags with candy, treats, and a letter of invitation from the Coffee Group. Once all the bags were filled, each person took several bags to secretly deliver to those members who were not present.

The Army has a long-standing tradition of socializing to build comraderie within individual units.  One way of doing this is hosting unit "Coffees."  The Coffee Group has traditionally been comprised of the spouses of officers and senior enlisted Soldiers.  As quoted in “The Army Wife Handbook,” Alma Powell says, “As wives, if we do not know one another, how will we be able to support one another, and stand together in times of need?” The typical modern Coffee now consists of spouses ( not just wives anymore!) and rarely involves sitting around and drinking the caffeinated beverage; instead, it is about developing friendships among peers and forming a support group.  Coffees can be held in a home, at a restaurant, or at an outside venue.  Typically, the members of the Coffee Group take turns hosting the events, which are held monthly. In our current unit, we have a wonderful group.  I have been so excited to meet and get to know all...

Today is National Coffee Day.  I celebrated at home with my own Starbucks brew (prepared by my fabulous husband before he left for PT) and my new favorite creamer, Coconut Creme. I also spent the day preparing for a battalion Coffee planned for tomorrow night.  I'm hosting at my house and I'm really excited to meet some new spouses and spend time with some that I know and already adore.  It's a super group of ladies and I look forward to seeing them. I was working on the Coffee roster when my youngest son sat down by me to check out what I was doing.  He glances at the document on the table with "Coffee Group" at the top of the page and picks it up.  He is immediately disinterested and says, before dropping the paper back on the table, "What's this? Oh, well, I guess it's not for me ... I don't drink coffee ...and I'm not in a group" ... and walks away.  Love that kid.

My hubby has changed jobs which, in the Army, means a round of "farewell" events. We were farewelled from the brigade a few weeks ago at a brigade staff "Hail and Farewell" and I was farewelled last night from the brigade Coffee group. For my civilian friends, a "Hail and Farewell" is a regularly scheduled social event for the Soldiers and spouses of a unit to welcome new members to the unit and to say goodbye to those who are scheduled to leave. Welcomes include a quick summary of the Soldier's previous assignments and jobs plus information about his/her Family and interests. Farewells generally include a nice speech about the value the Soldier and Family has added to the unit and may include a farewell gift (framed prints and unit colors are popular). A nice touch is that incoming spouses usually receive a yellow rose and outgoing spouses receive a red rose. A "Coffee," by contrast, is a social event exclusively for the spouses of Soldi...

Our first Coffee with the new leadership in our brigade was a fun "Bunco Queen" theme, complete with pink boas, tiaras, cutesy paper goods, and a gorgeous pink cake.  Fun idea!