Marine Corps Ball

In early November we went to the Marine Corps Ball in Ames.  This is the same Ball we spent our last weekend with Curtis last year.  On the drive down I felt calm and at peace, it was going to be a good weekend.  We actually didn't think we were going to go to this particualar event. We had been invited to the one in Minneapolis by our case officer as well.  Unfortunatley, they were both on the same night.  Do we go to the one in which we knew many of the Marines that were involved in Curtis' funeral, and which we have become close to?  Or go where our nephew is in his last year of school for OCS?  The debate was ended when Emily pointed out, "Travis (our case officer) is LIKE family, but Mike (our nephew) IS family", and we don't know where he will be next year.  Either way, we wanted to be together as a family. 

Getting ready for the Ball was a comedy of errors.  After meeting at Mike's house, we headed to the hotel to get ready.  Right off the bat, Craig had forgotten to put his suit in the car, so back to the house he went to retrieve it.  Mark and his date came in and even before introductions were made, she was looking for a safety pin to fix a strap.   Katie had brought a dress that she had previously worn, and although she had made sure it fit, as soon as Emily zipped up the zipper, it split in two!  We tried for at least a half an hour to pull it up or down to no avail. She was neither in nor out of the dress.  Our only option was to break the zipper totally, but then she had no dress!  After another trip to the house to check out Molly's stash of dresses, Katie came out with a beautiful red dress that she looked stunning in.  I blame the zipper on Curtis, he didn't want to see his girl in black that night. 

Finally we were ready to present ourselves!  Marine Corps Balls always start with the presentation of the colors and a ceremony.  There is always a lone table to represent the soldier who could not be there.  Everything on the table is a symbol.  We knew it was coming, but it always hits hard. As the tissues went flying around the table, and Becca started pulling booze out of her "man purse", the entire ball room of about 250 people all turned toward us to watch the big sceen placed behind our table for the Birthday messages!  I guess that ball room got a true representation of what is is like to be part of the military. 

The meal and dance that followed were nice, we really enjoyed our evening.  We sang the same karokee song as last year, "Sister Christian", and our same last dance to "Macho Man".  It didn't have the same joy as last year, but it made me believe that things will be OK.  We will move forward and have good times, but we will never forget.