Month: July 2014

For Caleb’s birthday today he wanted to do something special on the day, so yesterday I baked 72 cupcakes (from a box, no big deal) and packed them up along with frosting, candles, a piping bag and candies to decorate them and today after church we headed to base for our usual lunch with friends. Some of us go to one church and others go to another, but we all meet and have a leisurely lunch on base while our kids all run and play together as if we’re at a big family reunion.

We got to our lunch spot, I set out the cupcakes and frosted them (ziplock bag style) while Caleb and Camille strategically tossed M&Ms on the top. When I was running low on vanilla frosting I switched to chocolate (both from cans because in this heat there was no way that homemade frosting was going to make it intact) and that created a swirl effect that impressed everyone, including me. Happy accident, but I’m totally going to do that on purpose next time. I threw a few candles on them since every kid always wants a candle and then we ate lunch, ate cupcakes and sang happy birthday to the kid who is TEN.

Then we all (over 40 of us — we have a lot of kids) went upstairs to the base theater where I had bought tickets for everyone to watch Planes 2 (It didn’t break the bank because adult tickets are only $4, kids are $2 and kids under 6 are free. Cheap fun). Caleb went and bought boxes of movie candy to pass out and we had a “party” in the movie theater. It’s only 60 seats so it was almost a private showing.

Anyway, I’m done, the kid is satisfied, it wasn’t too much work, and it’s hopefully the last birthday I have to do solo before Josh comes back. Of course I was too busy frosting and handing out movie tickets to take any pictures. Imagine Caleb smiling and eating loads of candy and Camille sucking on a soda as big as her face and it will be just like you were there with us.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and see the vertical lines etched in-between my eyebrows (my “elevens”) and I pull back at the skin at the sides of my ears to get rid of the “parentheses” around my mouth and sigh a bit. It used to be that the elevens only showed themselves after a period of deep concentration and the parentheses meant I was smiling broadly, but they’ve now become a permanent part of my face. I’m trying to make peace with that (in between wishing I were brave enough to try a bit of botox), but I wouldn’t go back to the time when my face was smooth and wrinkle free — not because I’m enjoying the wisdom that comes with age, cause often I feel as clueless as ever, but because I don’t want to go back and relive all of the chaos in my past.

I like to think that I can do it all when Josh is away, but sometimes I run into unexpected brick walls. The other day I wanted to get a copy of our cell phone bill so I could tell how much credit we had left and how much money I needed to add to our account. I arrived at the kiosk with my phone, my residence card, and my passport. She looked up the information in the computer and told me that the account is in Josh’s name, not mine, so I couldn’t have a copy of the bill. Even though I had his residence paperwork, since I’m not actually him, she couldn’t help me. Awesome. I’m only his wife and in possession of the phone that is part of the account, but no go. Oh well. I wonder how long I can go without paying before they shut off my service . . .

Today I went to base to get the mail from Josh’s work. I don’t usually have to get mail from there because I now have a post office box that I can access myself (Moms remind me to give you that address), but because it was Caleb’s birthday a few things had been sent to the office. I stopped by there in my yoga pants after Pilates class, sweating buckets. Not because of my workout (I love Pilates because it’s virtually sweat free), but because it was over 100 degrees and 50% humidity. Dripping.

I’m not going to name any work people by name, but I was escorted into the building by Marine 1, and I do mean escorted because only people with a special computer chipped ID can get into the building and I was offered a seat in an office where they must not have had any secure information visible. Marine 1 tells Marine 2 to go see about getting my mail for me and I try to not look too conspicuous as I wait. Then Marine 3 comes in and asks, “Do you know if your husband has filled out a form giving you permission to pick up his mail? Because we really can’t give it to you without it.” I replied that I had picked up mail before without a problem and Marine 4 said, “Aw, just give it to her.” Marine 3 disappears to check and see if he can ethically give me someone else’s mail as other Marines pass through and ask, “How’s it going?” Aside from me feeling out of place and just wanting to get my mail and disappear? Perfect.

Next, boss Marine walks through and determines that I’m there for mail and that the appropriate paperwork isn’t on file so he suggests someone in the office place an easy phone call to Josh so that they can get verbal confirmation that it’s OK for me to pick up the mail. His reasoning was that it was better to be safe than to break any federal laws. Great, Josh is going to love that. Marine 5 said he could handle that until he asked me where Josh was, and I replied, “Baghdad. Iraq.” He started and gave me a look that said, “that’s ridiculous” and I just shrugged in return.

I offered up that I did have a power of attorney that should allow me to do anything in place of Josh and Marine 6 said, “Don’t worry. You’re getting your mail” and went to investigate what was taking Marines 2 and 3 so long. She came back a few minutes later with a package and envelopes in hand and said, “Here you go. Have a great day ma’am.” I started to leave and then realized someone had to let me out since not only can unauthorized people not get into Josh’s work, but they can’t get out either.

Come home soon babe!

The most fun we had this past week was when the kids had the opportunity to participate in a music workshop with the Kelly Bell Band. The band was in town to perform for the base’s 4th of July concert and they offered to do a free kid’s workshop as well.

So I arrived with guitar, cajon (box drum) and 4 little people, not sure what to expect. The information said that they would do a 45 minute workshop geared toward younger kids (aged 5 to 10), followed by one for kids aged 10 to 18. Three and a 1/2 hours later my kids were bursting with music and enthusiasm having just spent the evening with the nicest group of talented, funny, generous and kind musicians and their only regret was, “We wish Dad had been here! He would have loved it!”

All 4 kids participated in both sessions — the first one went half an hour over and bled into the next one. It was a night of one long jam session, punctuated with a fabulous background of music history.

They started with the origins of modern music, the spiritual (including its importance as part of the signaling system for the underground railroad). How the popular instrument back then were strings strung on the side of a shack and played with an old bottle to get the vibrations just right. Then the move to stand alone instruments and precision guitars (with frets to mark the right fingering), the progression to blues and Robert Johnson, the father of the blues. Next came jazz and electric blues, the “pop” music of their day. Then, the rise of the electric guitar and rock and roll, moving into distortion . . . add in some funk, rap, and heavy metal and I think we covered it all.

It wasn’t a history lesson as much as different band members took turns demonstrating the various techniques and styles and telling stories of how various music styles came into being. The boys (and girl) were captivated. The band also encouraged the kids to play along with them, showing them the beat, various chords and some new skills so they could join in.

At the end of the first session they all took part in writing a blues song and then played along as the band members made up lyrics on the fly. At the end of the second session the emphasis was on poetry and rap and they brainstormed rhymes that were turned into a rap at the end.

** tragically, my phone ran out of battery part way through the first session, but I’m glad I at least got part of it. 

At the end of the night the drummer gave Caleb his drumsticks (and signed them), they gave all the kids at the workshop a free copy of their new album Too Far Gone (which I love, btw and you can listen to samples on iTunes to see for yourself), and made them all promise to keep in touch and let them know how their playing is coming along. I fell in love with a group of strangers in a few short hours.

Here’s a video of them in action. They have been together for 18 years and were telling Calvin that once upon a time Jason Mraz opened for them and then a few years later he surpassed them in popularity and they were opening for him. They told Calvin to keep playing and were joking that maybe one day they’ll be able to open for him too.

youtube video performance

I don’t think anyone who is local reads my blog and if they do, I’m probably not talking about them anyway. I’ll start by saying that I don’t think this is an accurate assessment of my daily life, and I can’t give a bunch of concrete examples, but it’s how I feel.