Paula Deen's, y'all!

Okay, so the in laws made it in yesterday. They came to the post around 4:00 - we drove around post, went out to dinner and showed off the house.

Today was Nathan's last day of school, which featured a banana split party (yea, for the sugar rush......) Anyway, there's a picture from the party, plus the award he got from his teacher. Note the reason: "The most unusual and broad information." That's my boy! :)

We met up with the in laws for lunch at Paula Deen's The Lady and Sons. Now, in order to eat there, one must show up at the restaurant at 8:30 in the morning, to get the reservation time for later that day. So the sister-in-law and her hubby stood in line for 20 minutes or so to get a 1:00 time. We all chose to eat off the buffet (except for Nathan, who since he already ate lunch at school and had the banana split, chose not to eat, and instead played his gameboy the entire time we were there).

Word of warning - there is no margarine, no skim milk, no canola oil in the cooking. It's all FAT, baby! Everything was wonderful and tasty and you'd take your first bite and think, this is heaven in my mouth! And you'd keep eating because goshdarnit, it's Paula Deen's and this is 'an event'! And then by the end, you're groaning asking yourself, why did I eat all this? By the time you get to the chocolate gooey butter cake or the homemade peach cobbler, you have to be rolled out the door.

My father-in-law and Nathan decided to retire to their hotel. The rest of us took an historic trolley tour. I thought it was very entertaining, but the guide would drone on about housing prices in the historic district. Now, apparently I need to check out "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" to truly appreciate it all.

We got back to the hotel and found Nathan playing in the pool. Tomorrow the beach!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

The picture above is from the Warriors Walk, a sacred space at Fort Stewart to honor those who have died in the service of our country since 2003. As of 6 May 2009, 418 soldiers have been honored with a redbud tree and a plaque in their honor. To walk along this walkway is to feel pride and sadness at the lives protrayed therein. Some markers and trees are well kept - there may be Christmas lights in the branches pictures of family members in frames in the plot, maybe a catholic icon, with a flag rippling in the breeze. Others have not been touched since they were planted. A tattered flag and a name plaque are all that separate it from the next. How to compare the sadness of one who was obviously loved enough to be maintained - long after the dedication ceremony - and one who's plot hasn't been touched?

Did you know, the average age of widows attached to this post is 21-26?

I have made my peace with the possibility of Eric dying in the line of duty. I drove to Savannah this week, and on the long ride - I once again mentally planned out his funeral. I have planned his obituary, his funeral and how to tell his friends and family. For the first time, however, I realized that I might have to deal with other overwhelming issues - the possibility of amputation, PTSD, traumatic brain injury. I am not prepared for that.

Atlanta Braves

The band is traveling to Atlanta tomorrow to play the pregame and 7th inning of the Atlanta Braves' night game. I believe the game starts at 7:00 p.m. EST - if you get the game on TV, you might be able to see them play the National Anthem at least.

The band also now has a page on facebook. 'Marne Bands' Hopefully it'll be a good way to keep up with pics and activities, especially once they deploy.

We had an FRG meeting this week. I'm the newsletter editor. Given technology today, it would seem to me that either the facebook page or a dedicated web page is best, but I think we'll still do a hard copy to mail to family members who want the info but don't do internet.

We've had rain for 6 days straight. It'll clear up by the time the inlaws make it out - just in time for the steamy goodness of the 'sub-tropics' that is Georgia. The pennywort (thanks Linda's mom! for the I.D.) is THRIVING with the rain. *rolls eyes*

Getcha game face on....

band gig

http://www.wsav.com/sav/news/local/military/article/the_third_ids_cg_visits_area_veterans/12710/

so here are three different videos of the same event. You can't see Eric in either, but it gives ya'll a taste of what he does.

3RD ID Visited VA Hospital - the coastal source

3RD ID Visited VA Hospital - the coastal source

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what is growing in our back yard?

Everyone else has grass in their back yards. We have these lilypad things. Either lilypads or bean sprouts. Whatever it is, the frogs really seem to like it.

Feel the Marne love

Okay, so you should be able to tell that I'm tinkering with the site. I wanted to upload the official 3rd ID song - Dog Face Soldier. I ended up including all the stuff I've downloaded from Amazon.com - but just snippets. (and some stuff is stuff Eric needed to learn for the rock band, not necessarily stuff I would have picked myself). I'm not techy enough to pull those out.

Anywooo. When Eric was with the 101st, they had a fight song - a Rendezvous with Destiny. Very inspiring, good esprit de corps. The 3rd ID - not so much. It's a freakin' show tune!!! You expect Judy Garland and Andy Rooney to start singing it with a chorus line behind them! Click on the mp3 player, and it's the 2nd clip.

Here are the words:

This song was used in the Audie Murphy movie To Hell and Back, based on this autobiography of the same name, and is the official song of the 3rd Infantry Division. You can here it played, and sung, on their website at http://www.stewart.army.mil/Display....F-F8EA940979C2 8)

I Wouldn't Give A Bean
To Be A Fancy Pants Marine
I'd Rather Be A
Dog Face Soldier Like I Am

I Wouldn't Trade My Old OD's
For All The Navy's Dungarees
For I'm The Walking Pride Of Uncle Sam

On Army Posters That I Read
It Says "Be All That You Can"
So They're Tearing Me Down
To Build Me Over Again

I'm Just A Dog Face Soldier
With A Rifle On My Shoulder
And I Eat Raw Meat
For Breakfast E'V'RY Day

So Feed Me Ammunition
Keep Me In Third Division
Your Dog Face Soldier's A-Okay

Now, imagine every soldier in the division standing at attention at 6:30 a.m. before PT singing this.

I gotta keep up

Okay - since Mom's birthday - I've had a birthday (yea, me), we've had Mother's Day (yea, Moms), Eric marched in the Glennville Sweet Onion Parade (yea, onions?) and we went to the beach (yea, us!)


So the first pic is Nathan and his BFF, Max - who is in his class and lives next door. Look like a couple of delinquents. Max was home sick for 3 days with a fever during the height of the 'what the heck is swine flu' period. All I could think of was how many times that week he had been in Nathan's room and coughing. But apparently he's fine now.

Mother's Day was very nice - Eric took Nathan to get a high and tight, then Nathan took me to see Star Trek (loved it!), then Eric cooked steaks. About as wonderful as it could get.

So the band was marching in the Glennville Sweet Onion parade on Saturday, followed by a pouch concert at the fairgrounds. He is on the back row - first one on the right. I always thought Georgia was known for the peaches, but it seems every little town hawks the onions. We were supposed to get some freebie ones, but what would we do with a 20 pound sack of onions?

Yesterday we went on an adventure. Supposedly you can see the space shuttle from the coastline when it lifts off, and there was a launch yesterday at 2:00. Eric got the afternoon off and we pulled the kid out of school early, hopped in the car, and drove down to Jekyll Island. Nathan complained about the car ride - but it was all forgotten once we hit the water. Warm water, gentle waves, not crowded - we really couldn't have asked for a better time. Now, Eric and I BOTH saw two dorsal fins in the water. We're assuming they were dolphins (since we saw plenty o' signs for dolphin tours), but just to be on the safe side, we didn't get any further in than waist high. Eric didn't really relax - he kept scanning the waters looking for trouble. Nathan and I on the other hand were having the time of our lives. At the time the shuttle went off, we saw 5 or 6 different contrails in the sky. No way to know which one (if any) was the shuttle - but I'm going on record that we saw it.