The Liberal Life of a Navy Wife

Vivian is a progressive gal who happened to fall in love with a Navy man. Please join her as she charts her way through the turbulent waters of marriage, kids, politics, spirituality ... hey, you name it, and she'll talk about it. Vivian has degrees in Political Science and Public Relations and has a Masters in Management. She is a Navy veteran and is pursuing her Ph.D. She has 2 boys who she loves dearly even if they are constantly getting icky things like peanut butter and snot in her hair.

Category: Military

Priceless

May 08

1:16 PM

$200 - Trip to Ann Taylor Loft with sister-in-law, while our moms watched the kidlets, to buy "summer stock" which included perfect pair of lined, white capri pants.

*Lining is now needed in all dressy pants to camouflage cellulite which I blame partly on Thing 1 and especially Thing 2.

$50 - Price of the makings for a shrimp dip (thanks for the recipe Erin!) and a babysitter for a mix and mingle held for the students, professors, and administrators in my Ph.D. program.

*I think shrimp dip says I'm not afraid of commitment and have a refined taste facilitative of life in academia. They don't have to know the shrimp were frozen, not fresh...and that I used the Magic Bullet blender I bought after seeing it advertised on an infomercial.

1.5 Hours - How long it took to prepare myself - mentally and physically - for above party. I prepped myself on the lastest articles from peer reviewed journals and made sure my outfit said "she's smart" and also "she doesn't wear mom pants." I noted current topics that could be interesting to discuss with fine minds and even put on lip glass for the occasion.

PRICELESS: Realizing on the way home that my fly...on my perfect lined, white capri pants...had been down for the ENTIRE PARTY!

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Sister Mary...

Submitted by Southron on Tue, 05/13/2008 at 11:40 pm.

Ah, actually, no, but here the plot thickens: I had such a reputation for being prim and proper--I didn't smoke, I didn't drink and I certainly didn't associate with, ah, ladies of dubious reputation; I didn't even use profanity; and, at the time, all these were considered a Marine's God-given right as well as its practice the true measure of a Marine. So, from Quantico on my nickname was Sister Mary. Well, for this to happen to Sister Mary was more than my fellow Marines could have hoped for. The die was cast and from Camp Lejune to Viet Nam I was introduced as Sister Mary, the guy who had "deliberately" left his fly open at his own wedding. Of course, in time the story got imbellished even more until I had "dropped my skivies" in front of the Commandant of the Marine Corps. After a while, I would simply say, " I did it so they'd send me to 'Nam", and that never failed to bring on a loud chorus of ooo-rahs! Southron

A gapper

Submitted by progressivegal on Tue, 05/13/2008 at 8:17 pm.

Haha! You win. How embarrassing!

But seriously, you can tell us...were you trying to save time? ;-)

Top this...

Submitted by Southron on Tue, 05/13/2008 at 5:38 pm.

Top this: I left my fly open at my wedding. Not only that, it was an ultra formal military affair--I was a Marine officer at the time. Believe me when I say there is nothing that ruins the heroic effect of dress blues than to have your fly open, and my fly was not only open, it was what was referred to at the time in the Navy and Marines as "a gapper." My commanding officer was in attendance as well as all my officer "friends" from the BOQ. My commanding officer leaned over and whispered to me as he came through the reviewing line, "nice move." And, for the rest of my tour in the Corps, I was forced to endure the worse kind of abuse; for example, being queried repeatedly if my rationale was that I simply wanted to "save time." I repeat, top this.

Southron