Air Force Ball

Well we had a great time at our first Air Force Ball last night! We danced all the way up to the last song that the band played, enjoyed some good food and talking with the five couples we knew who attended( for some inconceivable reason the ball is not very popular with the student pilots!  So we pretty much knew Caleb’s instructors, people I babysit for, and some other spouses I know from being social on base).

There were, however, some technical difficulties that put us in an awkward position.  When we arrived and checked in, the poor 2nd Lts. roped into working the event had no seating assignment for us on their little spreadsheet.  We awkwardly stood around the lobby for 15 minutes or so, waiting for someone in charge to tell us where to sit.  Then they came up and said that a couple recently said they wouldn’t be able to make it after all, so we would be sitting in their seats and keeping their place cards because we ordered the same food.  This couple happened to be one of the higher-ranking officers on base who is in-between command posts, i.e. he used to have a big important job on base but now someone else has it and he is waiting around until his next assignment is ready for him.  There is more waiting in between moves than you might think.  Anyway, he and his wife, who worked with the student spouses a lot and is the most classy, gracious, down-to-earth person you could ever hope to be like, were supposed to be sitting at this table in the back of the room with some other random parties (the rest of the room was arranged according to squadron, i.e. people you work with and know).  So we got a big kick out of telling our few acquaintances that we’ll be standing in for the Lt. Colonel and Mrs. for the evening!

So we’re sitting at our table and taking pictures with our place cards and observing the singing of the national anthem, a drill team performance, the entrance of the official party, etc. when who should come up behind our seats but the Lt. Col and Mrs!  We practically jumped out of our--their--seats and explained what happened and we had to stand around awkwardly again waiting for the people in charge to give us all some seats!

In the end they found seats for everyone and we got over our embarrassment and enjoyed the evening!