Russ and I have had so much fun these past two weekends! We normally work at the temple Saturday mornings, but since the temple was closed for cleaning we got to have a mini-vacation.
The weekend before last we had this great plan to visit the San Juan Islands. We can see these islands from the bay that borders our town, but Russ had never been. Since my parents only live about 30 minutes away from the ferry dock we decided to spend the night at their house on Friday, and then head to the ferry from there. Well, turns out that the Navy base was having an open house with airplanes on display celebrating 100 years of Naval Aviation. My dad invited us to go with him. I figured that would be fun and if we only spent about an hour or so at the Airplane Show (as I call it) we would still have plenty of time to go to the San Juan Islands.
On Saturday morning my dad cooked us breakfast. Have I ever mentioned that I have the best dad ever? We were a little late leaving for the
Airplane Show, but we still had plenty of time to go to both she show and the San Juan Islands.
The first thing we saw at the show were these cars.
Russ said "Wow, look at all those Dorloreans!"
I said "They look like the car on 'Back to the Future" (this is a typical Annajean comment, I am so pop-culturally illiterate that its not even funny!)
Russ and my dad then explained to me that the car they used on 'Back to the Future' WAS a Dolorean. Ooops.
As we continued on we saw some information about the plane my cousin will be flying when he gets his wings in just a few months.
We are so excited from him! Even more exciting is that he already has his orders to NAS Whidbey!!!! Not only will he be a 3rd generation Naval Officer but he will be the third generation Naval Officer to work at NAS Whidbey. We were bragging about him to everybody who cared, and being on a Navy Base EVERYBODY cared! It was so nice to have so many people share in our excitement! I LOVE that I grew up in a Navy town!
After that my dad spotted two of the planes his father flew in the Navy.
This one he trained in;
and this one he flew.
My dad also spotted the plane that he flew in the Navy, except it was the Marine version and painted a different color.
Here is a model we found later of the plane my dad flew with the right color and markings.
I had a plan that if we just circled around the airplanes and not doing anything else then we would still have time to visit the San Juan Islands. My eye kept drawing itself to a hanger though and I felt the urge to go in and look around just that hanger, but I didn't want to diverge from my plan.
Then my mom and Russ had to use the restroom, and the restrooms were right next to that hanger. So we went into the hanger, and I figured that would be okay since the other side came out near the entrance to the Airplane Show. As we entered the first thing we saw were a collection of quilts on display. I suddenly remembered something. Several months ago my Aunt Gina entered a quilting competition to commemorate Naval Service, and her quilt won 2nd place! It features photos of the three generations of Navy Aviators in our family; my grandfather, my father, and my cousin, and it is on tour throughout the country.
Upon remembering this I wondered if it would be there, and as soon as I glanced around I spotted it immediately! I announced to my family its presence and my dad (who is very quiet, shy, and soft spoken-until you start talking about politics that is) promptly turned a deep shade of red. After learning that the quilt had won 2nd place and would be on tour throughout the country my dads exact words were "I don't know about this, now my picture is going to be on tour throughout the country." And here it was practically in his own backyard! Even better yet, here it was a short walk from the building he goes to work in every day!
At this moment I knew we would NOT be going to the San Juan Islands that day. And I was completely okay with that.
As if all this wasn't enough, a reporter from the Whidbey Crosswinds was impressed by the presence of my dad with his picture on the quilt that featured 3 generations of Aviators, ALL of whom either had been or would be at NAS Whidbey and decided to include his story in an article she was writing about the quilts. Imagine how red my dad turned after that! I say this: Too bad dad, you deserve your moment of fame!
Here is the article if you would like to see it.
It was a great day. But that isn't even the end! After viewing the quilts my mom asked if I had ever seen my grandfather's name on a memorial in downtown Oak Harbor. This is a memorial that was constructed fairly recently and I had not seen it. My parents hadn't seen it either so we decided to go take a look.
It was such a humbling experience. We were standing in a park that I had spent time at before it was even a park. In front of blackberry bushes that I had grazed off of years before, staring down at my grandfather's name that was there because he had been in this town over 40 years before I was even born, before he even met my grandmother, across the street from the College I had attended for over a year, and no more than a mile and a half from my parent's home. My entire life I had felt unsure about calling Oak Harbor home. I was not born there. My parents were not born there. It always felt like home, but I never felt like I had any deep roots there. But then suddenly I realized that I DO have roots there. My grandfather will now have five members and three generations of his posterity living in the vicinity. I wonder if that ever crossed his mind back in 1945 when he stood upon those soils. And now I really can feel like this IS my home.
Even better yet, this park is walking distance from most of the Navy housing. There is a good chance that my cousin, his wife, and their three young children will live walking distance from this park. I am so excited for my cousin's kids, my grandfather's great-grandchildren, to come to this park and see the name of their ancestor. And after all-isn't that what life is really all about? (
Malachi 4:6)
Oh, and P.S. We DID get to go to the San Juan Islands the next weekend. More about that next time!
