secrets of an Army wife

What a long weekend! Here's what went down:

Friday night was Senior Night for the Leesville Symphonic Band. So Steven and I went to the football game to see my brother get announced and my parents walk down the field with him, etc. *side note: Steven ALWAYS carries a knife with him, and usually always this one knife in particular that has a clip on it which he clips onto his pants pocket. So you can see that he's carrying a knife* As we were walking into the stadium the officer noticed this and asked him to go back to the car and put it away! So I went on in and Steven "went back to the car" which means he really just walked away, waited a few minutes, put the knife all the way down in his pocket and then walked back in. As he was walking back in the officer saw his dogtags and apologized to him, saying that had he noticed earlier that he was a soldier he wouldn't have made him put the knife away. Lovely. The game was a lot of fun though! Afterwards I took Steven home b/c he had to leave to go down to Bragg for drill weekend and then I met my family/the Goodwins/the Benfields at Char Grill for dinner.

Saturday was equally exciting. My day was pretty standard: piano student, errand running, etc. But Saturday night was Katherine's Bachelorette party/Lingerie Shower. So much fun! We met at her old roommate's apartment to open gifts and then from there we went to the Twisted Fork for dinner. I knew no one except for Katherine and her sister so I really had to step out of my box but I think I did so quite successfully! They went on to do other things after dinner but it was already late and I had to get up real early yesterday so I went on home.

Sunday morning I played the offertory (sp?) in church. I was nervous simply because it's been at least a year since I played in front of an audience. But I did well! I mangaed to cover up any mistakes so that no one (even the musicians in the crowd) would have noticed. I can't wait to play in church again! Afterwards I went to have lunch with my family and then cleaned the apartment, went the grocery store, and made dinner. Whew! After Steven got home last night he had several things to do for school and so I watched a movie I had taped earlier and did the laundry. It was really late before we got in the bed so we're both really tired this morning!

To top everything off I have repeatly tried to take off my left pointer finger this past weekend. Saturday a bra decided to attack it and the little closer prongs ripped off some of the skin, making it bleed. Then Sunday I was chopping onions for the casserole I was making and I had gotten down to that last little bit of onion. The skin was slicker than usual and caused the knife to slip and get my finger instead. Luckily I have good reflexes and got out of the way before it cut to deep or too long. Still though, it was bleeding and actually burned really bad. I've never cut myself with a knife before so it was an interesting experience. Then this morning I decided to shut that same finger in the bathroom door. Wonderful.

During drill the new Commander came by to talk to Steven's unit. He then had them write on little 3x5 cards who they thought was the best Soldier, the best NCO (non commissioned officer), and one other thing that I can't remember. Then on the other side they had to write who they thought was the worst Soldier, etc. Well afterwards, Steven said people kept coming up to him and saying things like "what's up best Soldier?" even people he didn't really know or interact with. He said that a majority of the unit put him down for best Soldier (and it was anonymous so people totally could have voted for themselves, but instead they voted for Steven). He was thrilled, and shocked (I'm not shocked at all). I think that really shows how hard Steven works to be not only a good Soldier but a good man, and the fact that people voted for him over themselves really a testament his character. The fact that people that don't even know him have taken notice to his character and his work ethic really speaks volumes and I'm quite proud! The cards really don't mean anything except now this new commander knows Steven's name and knows that he is the overwhelming favorite Soldier in the unit and works hard.

I'll update on tonight's exciting events tomorrow!