Change of Command

Today was crazy. I finally thought to call and get someone to watch Colton and Taylor, for me to be able to go to change of command. For those of you who are wondering what this is, let me explain. My husband is in the Marine Corps. For his particular job he is assigned to a squadron which happens to be VMFA-122. The Crusaders. We are a jet fighter squadron of single seat(meaning only one person per plane whereas many jets have a pilot and a co-pilot) F-18's. Every year and a half the squadron changes commanding officers, whereas the term change of command. This is a proud moment for any Marine and the ceremony is traditional. I was already emotional as I drove onto the Air Station just seeing the flags along the road way, when Lt Col Lieblein got up to give his speech, thanking those who had helped to make his year and a half successful, he pointed me out and asked me to stand so that he could offer his thanks for all that I had done as the KVC. (Key Volunteer Coordinator - a volunteer position that is held by a spouse of the squadron and the main responsibilities are to keep the other spouses informed of what is going on with their Marine while the squadron is deployed and to relay any information that the commanding officer feels is important, normally there are additional Key Volunteers that are able to help you with calling other spouses.) Well if this didn't make me cry even more. Then when we got to the reception they awarded his wife a certificate for all that she had done as the Advisor for the Key Volunteers. She then proceeded to say that she felt that I should be the one getting the award and not her. I had to give my input at this time and let her know that I couldn't have done what I did without her great leadership. She truly was, and still is, an inspiration to me in what a military spouse should be.