We are less than 5 days away from knowing what the next 4 years hold. As you can imagine, the anticipation is palpable. While we do care (A LOT) about what plane we get and where we go, we know that regardless of what we get, God has a plan for us. It's awesome to know that whether He uses our desires or whether He sends us down a road we never expected to travel, we will be in for an exciting adventure of His choosing. And you can't go wrong there! Ah! Sooo exciting!!! Eric has two flights left in all of pilot training--a co-pilot ride and a checkride-- and then he gets to sit back and enjoy the celebration. (And I get to enjoy having him around more often!)
To pass the seemingly ever-slowing time, there has been many a coffee date, social hour, etc. The other wives/fiancées/girlfriends and I decided to participate in the spirit of drop night by making shirts that go with the theme the guys have chosen. So tomorrow everyone will be gathering at my house to put our "Team 10-15" jerseys together. I'm excited to see how they turn out and to have such a presence at drop; there are 13 of us! (That's A LOT for one class--the most spouses/significant others we've seen in one class is 8, and average is probably 4 or 5.) I am most excited that, despite some of the social drama of the past year, we are ending on a high note and coming together to celebrate our guys and have fun. Enjoying everyone's company again has been refreshing.
Time-out: Are you wondering what "Drop Night" is??
Drop Night is epic. It is the grande finale of all finales. It is a room full of excited boys (and a few girls) in fire-proof green pajamas, poking fun at the silly mistakes their classmates made throughout UPT and (in true male fashion) tackling each other out of pure--or feigned--elation upon hearing their assignments, while T-6 students look on in jealousy and eagerness for their turn someday.
It *usually* goes like this: one by one, the guys in the graduating class are stood up in front of a room full of current UPT students, guys waiting to start UPT, IPs, friends, commanders, etc. One of the IPs from their flight (remember, "flight" is pilot-speak for "class" or "team") roasts them, telling funny stories about stupid stuff they did during pilot training or highlighting their quirky personalities. Then, they say something like, "Let's see where powder-white Butler will be running for shade next..." and flash a picture of the plane they will fly and a map with a dot on it to show the base they will be moving to-- "It's a KC-10!.....to McGuire!!!" The crowd cheers and screams. And Butler, jumping up and down with his beer in hand, is tackled by a herd of belligerent flightmates. Yes, this does require a refill; often the glass is left hanging in mid-air, depending on the enthusiasm of the tackle.
OUR drop, however, will be different from any drop we've seen. Instead of the standard, boy-chooses-plane model, our class has decided to run it like an NFL draft, where plane-chooses-boy, much like a football team chooses a player. So, everyone will be roasted one by one. Then, they'll flash a random plane up on the screen and say something like, "The KC-10 chooses...(picture changes to one of Eric)...Lt. Butler!" And he'll run up to the front, where his IP will have a "jersey" that has a silhouette of his plane on it and the number 10 on the back. The guys will have no idea which plane is going to "choose" them. It's going to be fuuuun, and very different for the crowd...
Needless to say, our life is consumed by Drop/Graduation right now. If you want in on the anticipation/excitement/fun, send me a message or a text or a phone call and I'll put you on the "must contact" list. This list of people will get (at the very least) a text message shortly after we find out what Eric will be flying and where we will be going. But please don't expect a play-by-play until at least the next day; Drop Night is loud and crazy and lasts into the night if you're the drop class. We'll definitely want to tell you all about it, but probably not on Friday!
Ok, time to be productive...pray for our assignment, and for a quick week!! :)
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