Branching Out

Happy Memorial Day, all! I hope this weekend is full of great weather, good company, and lots of laughs. For me Memorial Day weekend was a time to be thankful for those who serve and have served our country, a time to reflect on where I've been during Memorial Days of yesteryear, and a time to focus on where I do not want to be this Memorial Day. This weekend would mark 30 days of consecutive sobriety in my journey for a life without mind altering substances. I knew the long weekend could be potentially dangerous with barbeques and picnics all over. Last year it would have been easy to find something to do- grab a cold one and join in with the one of the many celebrations going on, but this year could have been a little more challenging. Luckily and coincidentally, I heard of an off base church through a friend I met during treatment. The ministry caters specifically toward military members and their families. Since I've wanted to connect with a church anyhow, I thought, well, now is as good as time as ever. I went on their website last week and it showed that they were going camping for Memorial Day weekend- bingo! Without hesitating I emailed the person in charge and asked them if I could join in their party. Whew, disaster averted. All I had to do was show up, take in the sights and sounds, and enjoy meeting some new people. Come Saturday morning, I did just that. There were 13 other people, mostly in their twenties who were headed to the campground. Everyone knew each other, except for the newbie here, but that didn't bother me. I was looking to get away from Yokosuka just as much as I was looking forward to meeting new people, so I saw it as a win win situation.

Catch up with the Mighty Moo

Yesterday a friend and I decided to bid farewell to The Thundering Herd, our Mighty Moo, yes, that is the nickname of USS COWPENS, by doing something a little different. Despite the slightly overcast sky we packed our bags with warm clothes, grabbed the tackle box and fishing poles, and headed to the Green Bay Marina on base to rent a boat. We were headed out for a front row seat to watch our men head out for yet another underway. Given how strict the base is on so many aspects of life, the marina couldn't have been any more lackadaisical in renting our their boats. Before filling out the paperwork I asked if he wanted to see my boating license. "No need." Wow, okay. I proceeded to fill out the paperwork with my name and phone number and when I got to the bottom where it said emergency contact number, I looked to Nicole to see who we should put down. But before I even got the question out of my mouth the guy said again, no need. Whoa, this guy is nuts, he must have great faith in us, a little more than we had in ourselves to be honest. So with all that over and done with we headed to the boat. But then I realized he didn't even tell us which one it was when he handed us the key. "oh yea, it's over there, the one with the stripe." 'Dude, is this guy for real?' We boarded the whaler and were surprised to see that it didn't even have any seats. 'Oh man, this is gonna be good,' we said looking at each other with a confused face.
We untied the ropes, put down the engine and started her up. "Well, that's a good sign." And we were off. Out of the harbour, away from the base, and out to the open seas in our little whaler with no seats.

We went a mile or so off shore and saw lots of other little fishing boats anchored so we decided it was a good spot to try our luck with fishing. Throwing the anchor had me bent over, abs hurting from laughter. We were not the most graceful boaters. But the weather was great and we were just in time to watch the ship go past. It was quite a sight that gave me chills. I sat there thinking about what Mark might be doing while we saw the ship come into view. Maybe he was at the helm, Mr. Navigator doing his thing. We were about 500 yards away from it, we didn't dare get any closer- our husbands had already warned us not to make a scene or cause an international incident. So we chilled in our boat and snapped some great shots and yelled to them, "see you soon!"

After a little while longer of fishing and chatting we realized we were no longer surrounded by any other small boats, just big bardges. Huh, where did everyone go? We soon found out. No more than three minutes went by and the waves started getting big and our little whaler started rocking like a rubber ducky in a splashing bathtub. I'm pretty sure we yelled a few times and held our breath even more. Needless to say we high tailed it in very quick. Even though we were only out for two hours, it was one of the best time I've had watching the guys leave. Next time, though, I will surely take que from other boats around me.