The culmination of the chief selectee process is the pinning ceremony. My parents, my sister and nephew, and some dear friends were all able to join us for the ceremony. My dad, Brandon's "bestie", David (They would not use that phrase, of course.), and I each had a role in the ceremony itself. David and Dad pinned on his anchors, and I put on his new hat. (I was especially excited, because this new hat is much more stately and flattering.)
There was also some handshaking involved.
We took (too few) pictures to commemorate, including this one of Brandon and I beside a bell of obvious symbolic importance; they rang it each time they announced a new chief.
As an aside, Brandon and I have the unfortunate habit of consistently posing for pictures as if we are brother and sister - a brother and sister who get along extremely well but brother and sister, none the less. Claire (David's wife) took this picture of us actually discussing how to pose so this wouldn't happen, but, as evidenced by the photo above, the results are the same.
After the completion of the ceremony, we moved into our "military balls" weekend. The first - on Friday - was the Khaki Ball, which is a celebration by chiefs and for chiefs (plus their wives), and the second - on Saturday - was the Joint Forces Ball, which by some stoke of unfortunate timing, fell on the following day. I especially enjoyed the second one because we set with friends and enjoyed people watching and uniform discussing (many, many ranks from all five branches were represented).
Oddly enough, I wore the same thing both nights, and Brandon was the one with different uniform requirements for each.
Night 1: Khaki Ball
Night 2: Joint Forces Ball
Sadly, I didn't think to specifically request a full body photo*, so I snagged these pictures of my outfit off the internet. I specifically wanted to draw attention to my shoes, which were intense and made B pause in mid-sentence (He was saying, "Why do you need more...?") and change his tune to, "You're gonna look hot." My ankles were much less sure.
(Image via, dress purchased from Copper Penny, Mt. P, as a sweet gift from the hubs)
Lately life as been a bit more "military" than usual, but I'm so proud of B for all he's accomplished in his ten years of service. There is a joke in the Navy that if you have any question "Ask the chief," which means my husband now officially qualifies to answer all the random questions I come up with.
*Please note that between the two evenings there were SIX photo taking stations, prom style, with a variety of backgrounds. My husband and I are the immature type who snickered at the scene and didn't actually take advantage of the opportunity to re-live high school. If I was a real blogger, I definitely would have taken a picture of it, but I'm not, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I will miss making fun of them when B gets out of the Navy.
P.S. It's good to be back.
