Stroller Warriors Okinawa Family Fun Day.

The day before Easter, SWO had their first family fun day at Torii Beach. Evelyn and I went, and brought our friend Amber, whose husband is also deployed.

Evelyn had lots of fun collecting coral while I scanned the sand for sea glass but had an especially fun time in the bouncy house. This child has no fear and that makes me fearful. Now I know how my Mom must've felt when I was younger. Sorry, Momma.

Not only did she bounce in her first bouncy house but she also got to take a few swings at her first piñata. She was all the rage when she had her "sunnies" on and got quite a few compliments on them.

It was a wonderful day filled with wonderful company, and delicious cook-out food. My favorite was an orzo salad with shrimp which reminds me at I still need to snag the recipe. Who am I kidding -- my favorite was the cupcakes but the orzo salad was a very close second.































Evelyn's entire outfit (hoodie and dress) courtesy of Auntie Elizabeth. Thanks, Elizabeth! :)

One very big downside of this wonderful Saturday was that I missed Dan's phone call. My other closest friend was in the States, Amber was with me, and there was no one else on island that I was expecting to hear from that day, so I left my phone on the seat in the car.

When I saw the number, I thought perhaps it was YellowBox (furniture store), calling to say that our chair was in (more on the chair sometime soon). But no, it was Dan, on a scratchy satellite phone that made him sound very far away. Which he is, obviously, but still. It put a damper on the rest of my day because I was so sad I missed his calls. That was the first, and probably last, time he was able to actually call me from a telephone. Satellite phones can call US numbers (including MagicJack numbers) easily but it is more cumbersome to call a Japanese cell number, which is why that was the first time he had been able to call us.

So that was a big bummer but I emailed him as soon as I could that night, which made me feel a bit better. I don't blog much at all about his deployment but that was a big part of my Saturday, so I felt like sharing.

Many spouses end up missing a phone call or two, or several, while their loved one has been deployed but that was the first time for me, so I threw myself a pity party. To put an end to my pity party, I decided that it is a blessing I have only missed one phone call, instead of feeling that way more than once. I gained a new appreciation for the feelings of others when they miss a phone call from their loved ones, and thanked God that Dan was able to call and let me know that he is safe.