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| LUSH and Your Humble Scribe OAFS Photo |
Looking back over the years since I retired from the Air Force it struck me, I got to do a lot of cool stuff in those years.
The photo above was snapped in January of 2016 aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). LUSH and I, along with quite a few other family members, were there for the baptism of my then youngest grandchild (three others have joined the tribe since then) aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Belle Belle, as we call her, is LUSH's youngest child, she remembers nothing of her baptism as she was, to be fair, only four months old. But I remember the day very well.
The carrier was undergoing repairs at the pier so she was pretty deserted. I'm not saying we had the whole ship to ourselves, but damned near.
At the time I had no inkling that someday I would be staying at that hotel across the water (the two tallest buildings in the right background are the Manchester Grand Hyatt. I stayed a few times in the rightmost building. Why was I staying in a hotel in Sandy Eggo?
Why, to support waterfront testing of the combat systems aboard this ship -
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| USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) Source |
Good times.
Another odd thing was that a few short years after the baptism, Belle Belle's Dad, Big Time, would be a member of the TR's airwing and have to spend quite a few weeks stuck in Guam aboard TR during the opening days of the Covid-thing.
Because of my kids' being in the Navy I've had the opportunity to also ride two carriers at sea. Once when The Nuke was assigned to USS Dwight D. Eisenhower's (CVN 69) reactor department out of Norfolk and then again when LUSH was assigned to USS Ronald Reagan's (CVN 76) airwing out of Sandy Eggo. (Of course you might know this town as San Diego, Sandy Eggo is what I call a Lexism.)
Also got to tour the White House, which was also awesome.
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| OAFS Photo |
Dang. I need to smile more. But anyhoo.
Cool stuff.
I get to do it.
Can't wait to do more.
Geeez Sarge..... that last photo, try for a neutral look eh? ........ :)
ReplyDeleteAh well ...
DeleteGreat report, sir. Looks like you've had a pretty good and fruitful life.
ReplyDeleteNo, you don't need to smile more. Fake grins don't make people look happy, just, well, fake. Sort of like in those "customer satisfaction surveys" with questions like, "How was your shopping EXPERIENCE?" and " Was your SHOPPING EXPERIENCE ENJOYABLE?" I didn't go shopping to have an "experience.," I went to get things I need. I guess if the store had what I needed it was "enjoyable." Most things just are. Neither pleasant nor unpleasant, just part of life to get through.
Sometimes I think I'm smiling ...
DeleteBut I'm not.
Yeah, really don't like surveys.
Sarge, I have had the same experience where I return to the same or similar place under different circumstances. It is funny to look back and realize that you may have been a short distance away, but never thought about the place you are now.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I see nothing wrong with your smile. However, since The Ravishing Mrs. TB reliably informs me I have the same "cast of face", I make an effort. I at least do not glower as much in photos.