An Officer and a Gentleman

This weekend my hubby and I attended The Citadel's Navy Dining Out.  A dining out is a custom of Officers in service to their Country to enjoy an evening of camaraderie at a formal dinner affair.  The event took place aboard a harbor cruise in downtown Charleston and was a ton of fun!  One of the very few "fun" parts of being a Navy wife is the opportunity to attend "Dining Outs" and "Navy Balls".  Usually, once you have graduated from high school and have been a bridesmaid in all of your friends weddings, the opportunities to get all "dolled up" are rare and in some cases non-existent.  I usually jump at the chance to get dressed up and this time was no different.  I increased my workouts (haha), got a new dress, new shoes and of course did my best to feel like a hott momma!  I ventured out of my comfort zone and wore a strapless dress which is basically as rare as me getting a full nights sleep.

The dinner portion of the "Dining out" is very formal filled with speeches, a strict script, many many toasts, Navy hymn, The POW MIA acknowledgement, and did I mention the toasts.  We toasted everyone...The President, Every Branch of the military, The Citadel, The secretary of the Navy, The Guests of Honor, Fallen Comrades, and Snooki!  OK...so we really didn't toast Snooki but we did "toast" for about 15 minutes which required most of us to "fake drink" because there wasn't enough champagne for the long list of toasting that we did.

After the formal dinner it was time to DANCE...that's right...we all let our hair down and went from being classy to crazy the moment we heard the "cupid shuffle".  I must admit that I felt old considering I didn't know the cupid shuffle but that did not stop me from getting my behind on the dance floor and figuring it out!  I have always loved to dance and have never been shy about hopping on the dance floor and learning the latest dance craze.

One of the really rewarding parts of the night was having the opportunity to talk to some of the students at The Citadel.  Many of these "kids" are following the same career path that my hubby has taken and they were very eager to ask me a lot of questions about our life and in some cases our lack thereof.  The hard part about being in the military is that everything is unexpected...as much as people try to tell you or prepare you for how it is going to be, it is never really accurate. I tried to be brutally honest with these "guys", there are going to be moments of your life that are miserable and there will be times when it is all worth it!  I really tried to tell them some of the things that I wish I knew...there I go wishing again!!!  Overall it was nice to feel like I was in some small way helping them prepare themselves for the road ahead!  It will be a long hard road but my hubby is preparing them for it so I have no doubt that they will succeed!  
There is no doubt that we had an amazing time at the Dining Out.  It was so nice to get all fancy, socialize with everyone and to enjoy a few hours together as just husband and wife.  However, we missed our little boy who was in good hands with Nana and Pops, and as soon as the dress and the heels were tucked away I was upstairs peeking over the edge of the crib secretly hoping I would make too much noise so I could pick up my boy!