This blog is dead. D.E.D.

As wordpress never reclaims deleted names, it’s been decided that the first person who wishes for this domain on wordpress and promises to take tender care of this space with regular updates, lots of pictures, and a current links shall be given it freely and with love.

Sincerely,
Jess

Saying Goodbye is never easy.

You’d think I’d be better at it with all the moves I’ve been through but the truth is that last hug is always the hardest. It’s your last chance to tell someone in person exactly how much they mean to you and even if their unshaven cheek scratches yours, you don’t care because it’s not nearly as important as holding tight for just one more second.

Depending on how things go it could be a few months or a few years before I see my best friend again.

Military Life,
Jess

Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunto is the first living recipient for the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.

Ambushed, Giunto’s squad was split in two. He exposed himself to fire and then pulled an uninjured soldier back to safety and then saw the insurgents pulling away another soldier to be tortured as a hostage or worse. Guinto then killed one of these attackers and injured another to rescue his fellow soldier from a fate that literally might have been worse than death.

If you have a moment, go read a few stories of the amazing men and two women who have recieved the Medal of Honor. Their stories are an inspiration of courage, a restoration of faith in mankind, and provide a comfort knowing those who serve protect us.

http://www.cmohs.org/

Especially, Jack Lucas. This one, at thirteen, lied about his age and voluntarily entered into the Marine Corp during WWII. If that weren’t enough he became an instructor the very next year! He recieved the Medal of Honor at the age of 17.

Honoring Those Who Serve,
Jess

P.S. Alex, just so you know the bright blue ribbon would clash horribly with your dress uniform as will the purple one…

This weekend will be the last time I see my best friend for a good long while.

Such is the military life. Someone always leaves.

I’ve tried to explain to Alex, but maybe now that he’s the one leaving understanding will come like the slow and warming rising of the sun. It’s something learned as a child the first time you lose your best friend to PCS (Permanent Change of Station) season or the reality of moving at Christmas leaving snow for the beach and a new school you don’t fit in any better than you did the last school. (I can honestly say the schools I have been happiest in have been military schools for dependent children. Sure explains why I want to teach in them, huh?)

What it all means for this space that Alex’s posts will be sparse. He’ll do his best, he always does, and writing here is one way of his showing that he cares but time will be a precious commodity.

So, St. Louis…batten down the hatches! Alex and I are coming your way!

To Missouri,
Jess

Today is Veterans Day.

I’ve seen a lot of things today about bravery, courage, freedom, saluting to those in service, but what I feel doesn’t quite match those feelings. This military child life of mine is equivalent of having everyone I love more than they know tied to service through one channel or another.

Having someone you love deployed is like walking around with a piece of your soul missing. Sometimes you’ll have the phenomenon known as the phantom effect, but for the most part you know outside of your core walking around, braving danger, and covered in 60 pounds or more of body armor is a piece of your very soul. The closer the person is to you, the bigger the piece, and now that my best friend is facing deployment you’d think a pretty good sized chunk would be crumbling away, but the truth is that piece hasn’t been with me since the moment I met Alex. (Check back again when my father is deployed in the first “bucket” of 2011.)

Just for this moment, please take the time to write a personal card to a soldier. It’ll take you less than five minutes but the impact you’ll have on a complete soldier will last a lifetime.

To the men and women in the Armed Forces: Thank you for your service.

With Only Love,
Jess

Historic St. Louis (aka Soulard) has beautiful architecture, wonderful places to eat, but what really has Alex and I coming back is the year-round market.

Soulard market has:

The most delicious brats
Tons of fruit stands
A Butcher with Alligator sausage (Ask Alex, I’ve had Gator and wasn’t interested in it.)
This delicious spice shop that also sells speciality coffee beans

Plus a whole bunch more, but it’s a really neat place to go for an afternoon. Alex took some picture of the produce stands. He’s getting pretty good with that fancy camera of his, don’t you think?

Jess was too afraid to touch the fruit in fear it would all tumble down.

Add Tequila and Salt. Then, Call Me For a Good Time!

I Heard Somewheres There Was a Pumpkin Shortage...

It seems this year this tragic day is fraught with political issues when it should be about remembering those we have lost and those we love.

Every year, I write about the soldiers who have gone off into war as a reaction to this sad day but there are so many other people who should be acknowledged for their heroism, courage, and strength.

Have you ever heard of Rick Rescorla? Me neither.

A British volunteer soldier in the Vietnam War Rick Rescorla’s actions saved many of his fellow soldiers. As the commander, many other brigades had a fatality rate of over 50% but due to Rick’s actions and leadership his group suffered only eight casualties.

Sometime after the war he became head of security for Morgan Stanley bank and immediately began assessing the security situation. This company employed nearly three thousand people in the second tower and Rick knew that as an iconic American image as well as being easily spotted in the New York City skyline this building would be a target. At first, it was a truck bomb in the basement of building two but soon after Rick Rescorla began predicting other ways terrorists might attack and how he could mitigate the damage. New safety lighting was placed in all the stairwells and ventelation was installed to pull smoke so during evacuation people could see the way out. Further more, he ran quartlerly “fire drills” in his company so that three thousand people would know where to go in case of an emergency.

On September Eleventh 2001 when the first building was hit, Rick Rescorla ignored what the authorities said and began evacuating his people encouraging the other floors to evacuate as well. On this terrible day nine years ago after leading the majority of Morgan Stanley’s employees to safety he went back into the building to rescue anyone who hadn’t yet left.

He was never seen again.

Of the 2700 employees of Morgan Stanley due to Rick Rescorla’s actions only six were lost. Four of those six were Rescorla and three deputies who followed him back into the building – Wesley Mercer, Jorge Velazquez, and Godwin Forde.

It doesn’t matter what you do or don’t believe in, but if you read this please light a candle for those we have lost, loved ones currently in danger, and for those who serve in any capacity.

With Deepest Sincerity,
Jess

Or so the story goes.

While in St. Louis Alex and I went to the National Geographic Pirate Exhibit at the city’s museum. As cameras are not allowed in the specially created structure, no pictures were taken, but if you have the chance to see this traveling exhibit I highly encourage it.

To begin, the entire collection is in this enormous pressurized structure keeping humidity, temperature, and even salt content at the needed levels to continue preserving the items. Did you know that as soon as you pull something out of the water it reacts with the atmosphere and begins to oxidize? There is an entire science to this and within the winding tunnels you actually see the bits and pieces in various processes restoration.

However, the real beginning is love.

The story is that Sam Bellamy fell in love with a young woman named Maria Hallet but as a poor sailor he couldn’t provide for her. As all young men in romantic fairy tales do, Sam Bellamy went off to find his fortune. In his case, the fortune lie with piracy. As time went on he accumulated a small fleet but victory came in the form of the slave ship Whydah (pronounced Wih-daw). The human cargo had already been sold and the ship was laden with more than 20,000 pounds in gold and silver. A veritable fortune for men who has honest sailors would have made roughly 2 pounds per month and for those of Sam Bellamy’s crew that were freemen on a ship but slaves to be owned on land, life on the sea was good.

Profits on board, it is said Sam Bellamy was ready to return home to his love with fortune in hand proving himself worthy of her love. Unfortunately, on the return journey a terrible storm swept in sinking the Whydah and all but two of her 145 crew men. The carpenter was tried for treason but found not guilty as the poor man had been pressed into piracy at Sam Bellamy’s doing and the second was Julian, a Native American who on the sea piloted the ship but once on land sold into slavery.

The exhibit follows the story of several of the crew members (including the youngest pirate ever on record!) and follows the process of finding, excavating, and preserving this expansive treasure.

To be perfectly honest though, I really wanted a doubloon. Thankfully they had a few in the museum shop or I would have been tempted into piracy myself!

Ahoy Mateys,
Jess (The Occasional Pirate)

It’s a song from my childhood. I can’t remember specifics of the city as I passed through it as a child, but I remember the arch and my mother singing “Under The Bamboo Tree” in the front seat. Her rich alto voice filled the little Honda with “I like-a you and you like-a me…”

This weekend I’ll be driving to St. Louis in order to meet Alex.

While meeting under the arch would be romantic on the scale of meeting on the Empire State Building it is hot, humid, and need I say hot again in the “Show Me” state that I fondly call “Misery.” The projected heat index is well over 100 degrees but like normal people we’re meeting at the hotel filled with air conditioning, a pool, and an empty room to stash our stuff in.

There really isn’t much of a plan, per se, which has become this sort of ongoing tension between Alex and I. Or should I say the boy who wings it and the girl who plans?

What the worst that could happen?

It’s A Cake Walk,
Jess

Today is Memorial Day meant to remember those we have loved, the brave we have lost, and a chance to be grateful for the soldiers still amongst us.

There are nearly 1100 newly minted lieutenants joined that corp of strong men and women from West Point and then there are men like my father who have spent the majority of their lives serving, making a difference, and preserving freedom.

Last week the 1,000th soldier fell in Afghanistan.

To those in uniform: Come home safe. You are loved.

Day is done.
Gone the sun from the lake, from the hills, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest.
God is nigh.

With Love,
The Daughter Raised By a Soldier in Air Force Blues