National Anthem at PAX River

Tuesday, May 24, 9 a.m.

After a very nice weekend with Brandon and family, I’m back in St. Mary’s at Lauren’s house. Nelson is here, too, having just driven from Albuquerque to Lexington Park in three days. He has completed all his paperwork to join the Air Force OCS and could start his training in either mid-August or January. The date is very uncertain at this point. 

Here in Lauren’s townhouse in Lexington Park, we are in the flight pattern. From time to time, the jets overhead are so loud that Nelson and I just stop in the middle of a sentence and stare at each other until they go past and we can hear again. The interesting thing is that the birds here are also the loudest I have ever heard. Perhaps they have all gone deaf, or perhaps they are trying to compete with those huge gray birds that streak overhead.

Every morning at 8:00 they play the National Anthem at the navy base. We can hear it perfectly here at Lauren’s house. I like to go out on her back deck where the sun is shining to listen. Then they play Reveille. Afterwards, I sing/hum the National Anthem for the rest of the morning, my own version that has been adjusted for humming in an alto voice, but is really a medley of several tunes. In the evening they play Taps.

In New England, our small harbor-towns shoot off cannons at sunset. In some harbors, we toot the boats’ horns, and in the Florida Keys, they blow into their conch (say “konk”) shells. It’s fascinating to hear all those off-key notes honking into the sunset. 

Lauren, Nelson and I are going out for chocolate milk shakes at lunch today to celebrate her completing another class toward her masters degree. We have planted flowers in her flower pots. I’ve been catching up on the Blah-g. Brandon and Hermione are anticipating the end of the school year in about three weeks, Jena is planning her wedding in California, and Brianna is wrapping up her work in preparation for graduate school at Harvard beginning in August.

Brian is due back in Norfolk at midnight Thursday. He's been in Abu Dhabi and Berlin for work. I’m leaving here Thursday morning for the four-hour drive with the two cats (and they were awful – they meowed almost the whole time!). On Friday morning we have a few errands to do before we return the rental car, then we’re on our way again.