The Army is a small world

It's always funny to me how small the Army can be. You used to play that game "6 degrees of separation," but usually in the Army you only need "1 degree" to link yourself to someone. We were so fortunate last year when we moved to Fort Leavenworth to catch back up with some old friends from our early Army years. We got to see some friends from college, as well as nearly all of our Fort Drum friends. I love that about the Army. The best part is that although nearly 10 years had passed we all pretty much picked right up where we had left off. I can only hope that we have that great fortune again.

This summer Erin and I frequently drove up to Fort Bragg to swim. While there one day Erin started playing with a little girl and boy. So the mom and I start talking and find out that we both recently moved from Fort Leavenworth, and that our husbands are in the same brigade, and her husband is from Ohio. If you know how big Fort Bragg is, you understand how unlikely it is to just 'run into' someone at the pool who's husband is the same rank as yours, and in the same unit. (She also happens to be friends with our college friends mentioned above...like I said, "1 degree" of separation). Even better, they live only a mile or so from us way down here in south Fayetteville. That night as I'm telling Jason about this potential new friend he says, "yeah, I know her husband he went to Mount Union..blah blah blah." Since then we've become friends with them and the kids continue to play together, and we frequently see them at Army events since they are in the same brigade. This past Thursday night we went to the Field Artillery ball and I was dreading the fact that we probably wouldn't be sitting with anyone we know since we're not FA anymore. So in a room of probably close to 800 people, who's sitting at our table, but my "pool" friend. What are the odds? I do love the Army. It's a crazy, crazy small Army!

On that note, Erin went to her first birthday party sleep-over this weekend (at the "pool friend's house, no less). It seemed to go great. Erin was very excited to get her first sleeping bag, and they had a "make-over" party. The best part was that we didn't get a "middle of the night" phone call to come rescue a crying kid. So as my dad said, next week we'll be packing her off to college! Here are a couple photos from the night.