On Saturday night, I had the privledge to attend my first military function. It was a banquet for the Fallen Heroes Foundation. The night included a meal, and entertainment, as well as a few speeches from different officials.
I was a bit reserved going into this, as I hate being forced to mingle with strangers. There was a debate on what I was required to wear (just between Jeremy and I) and I was really dreading the whole damn thing! I emailed Jeremy's CO's wife to get the in on what I should wear, she gave me a lovely breakdown of what is required for most events. It's been rather cold here so I elected to go with a pant business suit and of course my poppy. I fit in pretty good in the attire side of things.
The appetizers/h'orderves were amazing. I especially liked the cheddar crisp with pear and chicken, but they also had cheddar topped with apple and pork and a cranberry. Jeremy loved those ones best, but I'll stick to my cheddar crisp. Even though the name is deceiving as the cracker thing is not actually crispy. lol
Jeremy and I met an older gentleman and he had just retired recently from the military. Just before he retired he had been working with the rehab and helping soldiers get back on their feet after injury. I am sure his job was both enlightening and heartbreaking.
While we were out in the lobby, having our h'orderves and trying to mingle a little, I was quizzing Jeremy on the hooks, rings, crests and other things that many of the service men and women wore on their uniforms. I also learned the difference between the blue, green and other color uniforms. I am afraid that I will not remember all of the information, I do know that a corporal wears two hooks, a master corporal wears two hooks and a maple leave, people with more rank don't have hooks or rings at all, but they have crests on their sleeves. I tell you it'd be nice to know this incase I do need this information some day.
Once we got inside and seated at a table we were joined by two other couples who were all in the military. I felt a bit out of place being the only civy at the table, as I did not understand half of the abreviations they were using or did I have much of a care for what they were talking about. Everyone at our table was a corporal, except for one and she was a master corporal. They were all supporting people, like clerks or what not. But soon I learned that they were all from the east coast! Phew! I didn't feel so out of place after that. There were two Newfies, and two Nova Scotians at my table. What a relief that was, we could talk about home!
For our meal we had: for starters a garden salad with saskatoon berry dressing (kinda...sour dressing, wasn't something I would rush out to by). Then we had a pumpkin soup...mmmm sooo good!. Main course was Alberta Steak (yes there is a difference), potatoes, a mix of veggies, some tomato thing, which I am sure was more of a decoration. For dessert we had a personal cake with a digital image, the cake had vanilla like shavings on the outside and oranges in the middle. Very good meal.
For entertainment, we heard from Terry Kelly. He wrote the song and video I'm going to try to link to this, but the name of it is Pittance of time and if you go to You Tube, it's the only song that comes up under Terry Kelly.
Before he started his skit/singing (as it was a delightful mix of the two) he told a few stories that I thought I would share here. One will help explain his video and the other is just a meaningful story.
When Terry was in high school/junior high he was made to attend the assemblies that we all had to attend on Rememberance Day. One year he and his friends were behind some Vets for the ceremony. He and his friends were grumbling about the two mins of silence that were coming up, probably discussing what they would rather do with their two mins. The Vet turned to the boys and said "I want you to take the next two mins and think of all the good things in your life. This will show you number one, the two mins will fly by and number two, you cannot think of all the good things in your life in two mins. We gather on this day to honour the men and women who have helped us to have our country the way it is."
Terry said that since that day he has always taken those two mins at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to reflect on all the good things in his life.
A few years later, Terry was in a store on Nov 11th. The store announced that they would be recognizing the two mins of silence and that they hoped their customers would join them as well. Terry thought what a great thing for the store to do, how respectful of them. At 11am they started their two mins of silence. There was a man and his daughter who looked to be about 8yrs old. The man continued talking to his daughter, she backed away from him and Terry eventually turned around and put his finger to his lips and said "Shhh" The man grumbled some more and continued to talk. Eventually he left the store before the two mins were up, but the daughter stayed to respect the two mins. He came back afterwards to finish shopping and what not, his daughter looked at him and said "Dad, that was really embarassing". Terry was annoyed that this mans daughter knew more about respect then he did. Shortly afterwards, he wrote the song.
Ok, I can't do the whole add a video thing, since it's not mine, I'm sure there is a way, but I'm not that interested to learn right now...lol so here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlrrAWCTRgThe entertainment itself was a skit about a couple during WWI. He leaves without saying good bye to his new wife as she is away when he gets his notice. She finds out she is pregnant, he keeps saying he will be home at christmas. Unfortunately, he never gets home. After each little segment, there is a song or two played to fit the mood of the segment.
Overall, it was a great evening, and I hope that Jeremy and I will have the chance to go again next year.
Here is a profile picture. See not really any baby belly to show off! I told you all so! lol but there consider this the first month of a picture, me at 21 weeks.
This is the front of my building from across the street. Pretty big eh?!
This is my work group part one. Teri and Jean sit at these desks. I took the picture at lunch time so they were both gone.
