So… My friends will laugh, but I caved. I had a desperate
moment and I joined the spouse organization Facebook page. I was looking for a
babysitter for the pilot training graduation dinner for my husband’s latest
class of students and I had exhausted most of my options. I joined the page to
see the babysitter list. Sure, I could have signed up for one of those sitter
sites you see on TV, but since we live in a small town, I wasn’t sure how many
options there would be.
“Maybe we could just bring her with us?” my husband offered
because he knew how much I had been avoiding this moment. I looked at our sweet
daughter, who is really well behaved when we go out, and she smiled up and me.
I considered the idea for a moment and quickly dismissed it as she blew a loud raspberry
and giggled at me. I love it when she blows raspberries. Other people do not,
though. I imagined the solemn tribute to MIAs and POWs that they do at all of
these dinners and in my mind heard our daughter blowing loud raspberries during
the moment of silence. “No, I don’t think that’s going to work,” I replied.
My mouse hovered over the “ask to join” button and with
a trembling hand, I clicked it. Here we go…
A few hours later, I was in bed reading and noticed
my phone blinking with a Facebook message, so I picked it up. The message was
from someone I didn’t know and simply read, “Are you or your spouse stationed
at this base?” Um… ok...
I replied with, “Good evening and thank you for your
message! Yes, my husband is stationed at this base, thank you for following up!”
It was after 10:30pm, but I got an immediate response of, “What
squadron is he in? What is his job?” I get that common courtesy isn’t really a
thing on the internet, but this just seemed rude.
Again I replied, “Thank you so much for your quick response!
I really appreciate it!” I also informed her of his squadron and official role.
Another message came though, “Well, why do you need to join
this page? Sorry for all the questions, we just need to be sure you’re in the
right place.” Oh, for the love… Really?
I almost gave up and said never mind, but I was determined
to find a sitter (and be polite) so I informed her that the commander’s wife
had instructed me to join the page and I was only just now getting around to
doing it. I was added to the page with no further conversation or responses.
Already, I could tell that this had a lot of potential to be more trouble than
it was worth, but since people tell me they like hearing my stories, I figure
it will give me some good ones.
A quick glance at the page already had me laughing. There
were multiple posts about getting boudoir photo shoots done (Really?! Why is
this a thing?). So, I’m sure I’ll have more fun stuff to talk about!
The irony of it all was that I managed to find a great
babysitter though a cousin who had a friend nearby… Oh, well! I’ll stay on and
lurk because it’s funny. Apparently the squadron has a page I “need” to join
too, but that will have to wait for another day (and a few drinks probably too).
I told one of my good friends here about the conversation,
so she could laugh at me and she responded with, “Haha! Welcome to the Dark
Side!”
