Nov
13
a growing appreciation
Filed under holidays, military, family at 11:09 pm | Leave a Comment
We’re in the midst of what is often referred to as Federal Holiday season. It’s a stretch of several months wherein there are multiple federal holidays. I won’t deny I enjoy the three day weekends. At the same time, having a break from the normal routine is enough to actually cause me to pay more attention to each holiday.
Yesterday was Veteran’s Day. Rachel and I didn’t have much planned, other than some catch-up work around the house and perhaps a nature hike to see some of the fall colors. Through the normalcy of the day, however, I was thankful for some reminders about the reason for this particular day of observance.
The first reminder involved friends of ours that lived across the street. We were getting to know them fairly well, and enjoying having someone close by that was raising a family, appreciated similar things in life, and shared many of our same values. It was great having some neighbors with which we could share tools, ladders, and toys, and even help each other with kid duty. However, he is in the military and last week they moved to Germany for three years. We’re selfishly disappointed we didn’t get to know them better, or have more time to spend with them. While I’m sure it will be an exciting time for their family, it is a huge sacrifice for them to leave friends and family and move to an unknown part of the world. And yet that’s a common occurrence around here, impacting all areas of life (housing market, church membership, friendships kids make at school, the number of home schoolers, etc.).
The second reminder came at the Prince William Forest Park, where we went to see some of the brilliant fall colors. It’s a gorgeous area, and definitely a great time of year to visit. While we saw various people throughout the park on the scenic drive, once we got out and walked down one of the paths, we had the place to ourselves. It was enjoyable time as a family (even Moby came along). And though we seemed removed from all the noises and sights of everyday life, there was the ominous sound of artillery rounds coming from the neighboring Quantico base. It was hard to shake the fact there were men and women training for combat while we were out enjoying the colorful leaves.
It was an enjoyable Veteran’s Day, and living here in VA my appreciation for those willing to serve and sacrifice continues to deepen and grow.
Apr
15
Living in relative proximity to Quantico, we frequently see various aircraft flying over, or hear feel bombs going off on the days they’re doing their bombing (i.e., the “Noise
Advisory” days). After work a few days ago a couple planes flew over the house twice, and I didn’t recognize them. That is, until I read the paper the next day. The V-22 Osprey have been in the news this week due to their upcoming deployment to Iraq, and a couple were at Quantico for the announcement. They were pretty awesome flying over, but it would have been more impressive to see them carrying a Hummer.
Nov
12
National Museum of the Marine Corps
Filed under holidays, military, traffic at 7:17 pm | 2 Comments
A new museum has been built just off of I-95, the highway I take to and from work each day. It looks pretty impressive from a distance. On Friday I was outside enjoying the sunny 70 degree weather, as anyone should do when they
have the day off for Veteran’s Day, and I saw a formation of 4 planes flying way overhead. A few minutes later, they flew by again, this time a bit lower. It wasn’t long after, and they flew overhead extremely low, and were just rolling into a turn as they went by. It was a very impressive sight, and the noise was quite awesome. Being the astute person I am, I realized these planes were not your typical United Airlines planes going to and from Dulles. Then I remembered the museum was being dedicated that day. Sure enough, the planes were F-18s that were part of the ceremonies.
As an interesting aside, they bused in a ton of people from the Pentagon for the dedication ceremony. Not knowing what to do with all the buses, they decided to close the HOV lanes for the day and park the buses there, figuring since it was a federal holiday the traffic wouldn’t be that bad. It took my brother almost 3 hours to get home from work that day. He had a few things to say about their parking plan. 
I’m glad this was one commute I was able to miss.