Month: January 2012

The “Gotcha” Question

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SpouseBUZZThere are some people for whom conversation is a dance, a cooperative venture whose purpose is mutual enlightenment. And then there are those for whom conversation is a competitive sport, the goal of which is to score points on the other player using words as a fencer’s foil.

Sure, they look calm now, but that's only because the fiendish simulator instructor hasn't yet begun to fight.

A few years back, I was ensnared at a squadron get-together by one of the latter sort, one of Sampson’s instructors. He saw fit to turn a “Gotcha!” tactic — which no doubt works wonders on his students — on an unsuspecting Navy wife.

So, who won that exchange of words? Check out my latest on SpouseBUZZ to see how it played out: Will I Ever be an Expert on Military Life?

May I Go Back, Please?

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This past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Fort Walton Beach, Florida for SpouseBUZZ LIVE Eglin. Florida, y’all. In January. I left winter behind me for a brief, giddy spell.

The view from my hotel in Fort Walton Beach

The view from my hotel in Fort Walton Beach. To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, it did not suck.

I met some truly wonderful people there and finally got to put faces to familiar blog names. There was laughter — a lot of it. Everyone involved in the event was kind, compassionate, and completely freakin’ hilarious in equal measure. If SpouseBUZZ LIVE ever comes to your neck of the woods, GO! Grab a milspouse friend or three and gather to hear — and share — some of the best, truest, most head-noddingly “Uh-huh, I’ve been there!” stories about military life you’ll ever find in one place. The room was full of people married to every branch of the service: active duty, reserve, guard, you name it. There was a woman who had been married to her veteran for nearly fifty years and a woman who had married her serviceman only three weeks (to the day!) prior. Everyone had experiences to relate, and I feel privileged to have been able to take part.

The Nth Demesne

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Observant visitors to my blog might notice a little something different in the address bar at the top of their browsers.

ToTheNth.net

Look, a real domain name!

I decided it was finally time to invest in a domain name for my blog that would be a little less cumbersome than the default “tothenth.wordpress.com” upon which I have relied until now. If you would like to update your links to reflect the new address, please do so, but extant links should redirect to the new address seamlessly.

http://www.ToTheNth.net

Say it with me: “To the Nth dot net.” Rather mellifluous, to my (admittedly biased) ear. It’s shorter, simpler to type, and way quicker to jot down on a napkin when you just have to take a moment during a coffee date to tell one of your milspouse friends about this great blog you read. 😉

Celebrations and Obligations

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Life in our little family has revolved around celebrations in recent weeks. Amongst the highlights:

  • Chanukah
  • Sampson’s birthday
  • Our fifth wedding anniversary
  • The beginning of 2012

That’s a lot of holidays and personal milestones squeezed into a tiny span of calendar space. When you factor in the travel (by car, battling horrendous traffic, with two vocally displeased and/or carsick felines in the back seat, I might add) to see relatives on both sides of the family during Sampson’s ten days of block leave, it makes for a late December/early January period that isn’t big on restfulness.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that my body decided to enforce some downtime by way of a sneezy, eye-watery cold over the weekend. Sampson and I hardly ever make big plans for New Year’s Eve, as we’d just as soon avoid the Tipsy Timmies and Soused Sallies who think the holiday gives them +1 in drunk driving skills, so we had already planned to ring in 2012 in the comfort of our own home. Plus, we make far superior cocktails for a far more reasonable price than we could find at any swanky joint.

Alas, the rate at which I was going through tissues and my general malaise left me unfit for cocktails on the 31st. Passing out on the couch in front of the Twilight Zone marathon and having Sampson wake me up just in time to see the ball drop wasn’t exactly the romantic evening in I’d envisioned, but I can’t complain. My husband and I stepped into this new year together, safe and whole. If things had turned out just a hair’s-breadth differently on one day in 2011, we might not have been able to say that.

In the very fact that Sampson and I could celebrate the arrival of a new year, I believe there is an implied obligation for us to be mindful of our blessings. Not easy. I will almost certainly lose sight of the important stuff at times (especially in the face of military frustrations; the Navy has a way of making trivialities explode into seeming significance). All I can do is strive to let myself hear the quiet, joyful truths of the good things in my life, whatever 2012 may bring.