Who knows, not me, I never lost control

So I had a conversation with The Husband last night about something that has bothered me for the past, oh, 10 years or so. And just let me preface this with a short story. Way back when - when the Husband was just That Guy I Want to Ask Me Out - and I learned that he was in the Air Force I had a conversation with my mother (I know; go fig). I was anti-all things Republican and conservative (still am) but I confused military personnel with military action. And she said that if I really liked this guy (still do) that I would have to learn to reconcile the fact that he's military with my strong oppositional views towards the things he's ordered to do, not asked to do. That being said, five years later I am a very proud military wife and support The Husband in his career. I also still drive the Obama-mobile on base....

Anyway, over the 4th of July holiday weekend all I kept hearing was to remember the troops fighting for our freedom overseas, remember the troops away from home protecting our rights, etc. After the 10 o'clock news I finally couldn't take it anymore and wanted to talk to The Husband to get his opinion and find out if what I thought was more my extreme leftist opinion than anything else. To my great surprise, he actually agreed with me: neither of us think it's correct to say that the military fights for our freedom or to protect our rights. The Husband says he can reconcile what people say over and over with the fact that the military fights for someone's freedom, and to protect someone's rights. But he said let's call a spade a spade and say "The military is in Afghanistan fighting terrorists." That's it. We don't discuss Iraq because the conversation ends with me losing it and going out on tangents and The Husband saying "I know! I know! I agree with you - why are you yelling at me?!" But I digress. The faction we are fighting in Afghanistan wants to kill us, not take away our rights or our freedom. Granted, I don't know everything, but I don't really think that the whole master plot of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the attacks of 2001 and the thwarted alleged attacks since were to invade the U.S., overthrow the government and remove all rights, privileges and freedoms actually fought for during the American Revolution. That's right people. I paid attention during American History....

For someone who gets labeled a socialist every four years or so, I sure do dislike nationalistic propaganda messages.

A seven nation army couldn't hold me back

I want to throw up on your face right now.

Please don't take it personally, it's just the state of normalcy around here. I feel like shit. Then I nap, and 80% of the time I don't feel like shit for at least 3 hours following said nap. Then it starts all over again.

So this past Friday was a beautiful day here in Fort Worth: sunny, hot, not too many clouds in the sky, a little wind. I was running errands near the base and I saw this line of smoke coming from a plane that... oh my gosh... was heading straight for the ground. Like, no control nose down vertical falling to the ground. But nothing happened, and I didn't see the plane anymore. I went into the craft store and saw a huge poster for a free airshow on Saturday at the base. Duh! They were just practicing!!! So I call the husband and he's been watching them practice all day and we talk about going, but I have more errands to run and the discussion is tabled until he gets home. I took Joey to get his hair cut and while we're waiting in the reception area I hear this BOOM-whoosh! sound and then this weird feeling like everything in the salon (including the windows) bowed inward and then returned to normal. Turns out they were flying the F-18 and getting it to the fine line right before breaking the sound barrier and they must have pushed a little too hard because what I heard and felt was a sonic boom.

So we're all set to go see the airshow and then overnight... the rain came. And didn't leave. So we're constantly checking the website and we go get Joey a raincoat (but not rainboots because we obviously weren't taking into consideration that when rain falls it makes puddles and will soak right through Converse and socks) and an umbrella and headed out to the base. We got to look in a bunch of planes, and put Joey in a few. It was pretty cool. We got to go in the plane that the husband works on for the Air Force, the kind he rides all over the world in. Let me just tell you - it's not even remotely comfortable looking. There's wires and stuff all over the ceiling and walls, the seats fold down from the perimeter, and then all the gear goes in the middle. And it's so loud, he says, you have to wear ear protection when you ride it. I can't even imagine.... Then again, I go green even driving into an airport. If I have to fly somewhere I have white knuckles the entire time (they went numb when I flew non-stop to New York) and I'm grey when I get off the plane. So not only am I proud of my husband's service, I think he should get a gold star sticker for surviving those flight conditions.

Anyway, we were really unsure if we were going to see airplanes fly that day, but the sky cleared up a little and we got a totally super awesome rad show. The Doctor lent Joey her ear protector headphones (I don't really know why she had them in the first place) so when the F-16 and F-18 started flying Joey looked super cool. There were stunt flyers, a biplane, a B-52 flew over (8 engines!) - it was really cool. Joey even kind of paid attention, too. The F-18 did that thing like the day before, and right before a sonic boom the entire plane gets enveloped in this weird bubble thing. It was so cool.

So towards the end of the show Joey has to go to the bathroom. All they had was... porta-potties. Thankfully the husband took him in one hand and hand sanitizer in the other. Ugh. So they're gone for a little while and when they come back Joey has a gigantic hot dog in his hand, holding his daddy's hand and hopping along looking like the happiest kid in the world. It was enough to almost move me to tears. Turns out the hot dog stand was closing and had six hot dogs left so they gave one to Joey. It wasn't even a hot dog, really. It was a whole sausage link on a huge bun. He was so happy with it, though. So the show ended and we were walking back to the car and he's just chowing down. He finished it and was talking to us about the planes and then he stopped and held out his hands and looked around and said "Hey! Where's my food?!" In all seriousness, he had forgotten that he already finished it and thought we had heinously taken it from him. The husband said "You finished it, buddy. You ate the whole thing." And Joey almost fell apart. Poor kid, we were laughing so hard and all he wanted was his hot dog back.

Lynchburg Lemonade, anyone?

Is 3 years old too young to let a child play outside in a fenced backyard unattended? I leave the door open and never go further than the living room. Also, I send out Izzy the Guard Dog with him; she is very protective of Joey and would definitely alert me if someone was coming. I really think it's okay and am confident in my furry alarm system.

Guess what I just found out? My brother-in-law is coming home this week from overseas for some R&R! Totally excited. Guess what else? My husband has to do National Guard duty this weekend and won't be able to join us on our trip to go see him. Doesn't that suck?

Man, we used to have some good times when my husband and I were dating. I lived in the sorority house and my eventual husband would come and stay for days at a time and when we had parties his brother would come, and man was that kid wild! The Doctor used to mix him whiskey sours to his heart's content and one time he got up off the couch to head to the bathroom, took two steps down the hallway and fell flat on his face. Ah, the good old days of binge drinking and reckless behavior sanctioned by uniform Greek letters sewn across our chests....

I do miss it, though. I think sometimes I wasn't ready to stop partying and everything when I had to. I wanted to live alone, live up my 20's, be fabulous and not worry about anything. Travel, be social, dance and shop. But then I think that if I had been able to do all that I wouldn't have everything that surrounds me right now; a wonderful loving husband, a beyond cute kid, and the best dog ever created. So I'll just forget about what could have been and relish every moment of what is. And this October at my 5 year college reunion I'll slap those letters back on my chest and live it up.

Have a safe trip, Uncle Oompa Loompa!