dinner and dancing

Last night Tim and I got dressed up and attended our first date in over a year, the local Marine Corps/Navy Birthday Ball. The girls helped me get ready, first watching me put my hair up in curlers and then deciding they wanted to dress up too. By the time the babysitter arrived, even Charlie was wearing a dress and halo over his footed jammies. The evening was hosted by the local colleges ROTC groups so there was less gold ribbon and certainly more cleavage than I am used to seeing at these events. I wore a pretty black Liz Claiborne beaded collar sleeveless dress I had found at the consignment shop a few weeks ago. Tim, in his dress uniform and with all his mini-medals lined up on his fitted dinner jacket looked very dashing.

The main speech was given by some Admiral who spoke about the Navy and Marine Corps these seniors are entering into, "Our nation might not be at war, but our men and women in uniform certainly are." He spoke of sacrifice, of a willingness to give for country, for something bigger than oneself that most of their fellow college seniors are not. We chatted over dinner about tours in Okinawa, France, and Italy, ship port calls all over the world, plane and helicopter squadrons, and duty stations we had all seen. It was a lovely evening and when we arrived home we found all the children asleep in their beds and a good report from Gwen, "No problems." The evening certainly gave me hope for the future, in more ways than one.