Another Duty Done --and a little Holiday Fun

I’m through with my year-long investment in the Military Health System.  I’m quite happy about that. Soon I’ll be through with my commitment to the Army Reserves. I’m happy about that as well. 

In future blogs, I’ll talk about some of the challenges I’ve faced throughout the years I’ve spent in the military.  Yet, I still advocate that every person who enjoys the freedoms that living in America provides should either commit to a few years in the military or commit to serving American or world society in some way.  I recommend this in spite of my experience in the military. Whether through inbred regulations and policies or through my own devices, my path has been rough.

Sweeping my military agonies and yes, some joys, into a corner to deal with later I want to share what I’ve been up to lately.  And, I’ve been up to a lot! The end of year holiday season was a joyful adventure throughout the south.

After finishing up with high-level military interviews and the usually array of military paperwork, I flew to Tampa, Fla. where I met my mother for a celebration of her 80th birthday.   I, along with her fellow choir member, arranged to have a cake for her during choir practice at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in New Port Richey.  She was totally surprised and happy we had done this. I think her fellow choir members enjoyed the cake as well.

From there mom and I flew to Washington, DC where we met up with my partner Cathy.  Mom was great company, but Cathy, also good company, helped me prepare for the movers who packed my  Falls Church apartment trash (errr rather, “personal belongings) to move to Sweet Home Alabama. Hopefully none of the mice from the apartment complex snuck into my goods.

I still had some incidentals along with Cathy’s and mother’s luggage to stuff into my Saturn Station Wagon.  These “incidentals” included a Beta Fish named Francois.  REI happened to have a good sale on roof-top carriers, which helped with what seemed to be unending paraphernalia.  From there we headed across the mountains to Lexington, Ky. where we spent Christmas with Cathy’s family.  Wow!  What a crowd of wonderful people.  They were all welcoming of my mother and I like we were part of gene pool.  Gifts were traded, food eaten and enough hugs circled around to spread the love all year long.  Oh, and we may have laid the ground work for adopting a dog.  We’re not too sure about that just yet.

Here’s a big deal about our short visit to Lexington…I saw my first Skirt! Magazine.  Those clever Skirt! Folks definitely have the “look and feel” coordination between print and web presence down.  The magazine was fun to read as well.

During our stay in Lexington we took a side trip up to Cincinnati, Ohio to visit life-long friends of Cathy’s and my new friends.  I can’t believe the amount of eating that took place in such a short visit.  AND…lucky us, we took away some homemade cookies.  We are still enjoying these goodies.

From Lexington, my mother and I headed to my home in Huntsville with Cathy and her mom following close behind in another car. My original plan was to drive her back to Florida from here. Goodness! Was I tired! I asked Mom if she wouldn’t mind flying back. Thank God she didn’t mind. Flying from Nashville to Tampa was a quarter of the price of flying from Huntsville to Tampa, so we hit the road again and drove Mom to Nashville.

One thing that distressed me a bit was the airport service for wheelchair-bound folks that mom relayed to me. There were no skycaps to assist my mother with transferring planes at the Atlanta airport. This worked to Mom’s benefit a bit. She had the honor of the plane’s captain shuttling her to her connection. She was thrilled about that.  Hurray for Delta airlines!

Now it’s a time for me to breathe after the holidays, and after my emotion-filled journey with the Military Health System. I will breathe with intent, purpose and strength! Beginning tomorrow I’ll share the adventure of my first tuba lesson in over 30 years and how I’m trying to train myself to breather deeper and get more air into my horn.