Military Mom, Part Three

NOTE:  This is third in a series of sporadic posts about this military thing happening in our family. How many military mom posts will there be?  No clue.  But more than three.

Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Whole Weekend

I had a lot of work to do over the weekend.  Dale had a lot of work to do over the weekend.  Dale's company holiday party took place this weekend.  My coffee/support group held a Christmas breakfast this weekend.  And the first of the stick-to-the-ground snow fell this weekend.  This was not a good weekend to have to make a trip and sit through meetings.  It's just the wrong time of year to try to add one more thing into our schedule. (That's not really fair, because it's rarely a good time to add to our schedule.)  But this was the weekend of the Yellow Ribbon Meeting for Spencer's unit.  (I assumed this meant we would receive a yellow ribbon to tie around our tree for Spencer's deployment.  Sometimes I'm really dense.)

NOW my understanding of the Yellow Ribbon program is that it is a series of meetings (some before deployment, some after they get home) for Guard and Reserve soldiers and their families.  We sat through 2 days of briefings about insurance, VA benefits, PTSD, spiritual health, and resources for counseling, care for exceptional children, and legal and tax issues.  I took pages of notes.  Which is funny, because the majority of what was talked about does not apply to us (Spencer is single with no children, and we are not eligible for 99% of the benefits they offer), but I am now a walking encyclopedia of information for families of soldiers. 

In addition to the vast amount of information thrown at us all, I feel that I learned so much this weekend.  In no particular order, here are a few of the highlights:

• I am sucker for free stuff.  Pens, notepads, books (especially books).  If they are handing it out at a booth, I feel a need to have it.  I missed out on getting the patriotic stress ball, which kind of bummed me out, but I am going to score big on books, so it's all good.
• Although I can get quite a bit of work done in the van, I can get much more work done in the middle of the night in a hotel room that is not moving lickety-split down the highway and blasting loud music.
• The Duncan Air Band is the best. Don't even try to compete.
• Even high-ranking personnel pass notes when the meetings get long (this made me feel WAY better about the game of hangman a few folks at our table played).
• I am so darn proud of my soldier. (I already knew that one.  I just wanted to say it again.)

So, I learned a lot, some of it quite useful.  I also got to see some boys act pretty silly, as only brothers can do.  And I got to wake up and tiptoe past peacefully sleeping young men and thank God for letting me borrow them for awhile.  The clock is ticking as Spencer prepares to leave.  I'm cherishing every moment.