Christmas

One of my favorite things about my husband is his willingness to get into a little trouble. When we were first married we almost got kicked out of our apartment for shooting bottle rockets off the balcony. It was my idea but he didn't hesitate to implement it. A little trouble keeps life more exciting.

Jess was in Iraq for Christmas. His team included a surly sergeant who loved to ride Harleys. Jess and I were missing each other and our common love of trouble and we hatched a plan.

I got on Walmart.com and shipped him a huge inflatable Santa riding a motorcycle. (Walmart will ship directly to an APO address. This is an easy way to ship presents to troops.) In Iraq most Army buildings are surrounded by huge concrete walls called T-walls. These walls are ten feet high and protect the buildings from explosions.

Jess and his buddy waited for the surly sergeant to chow and inflated the Santa on the T-wall. The sergeant was really surprised when he returned from chow and eventually even rigged ropes to keep Santa from floating away in a desert dust storm. Santa was such a fixture on post that he earned honorable mention in briefings as an "unauthorized breach of airspace."

It was a silly stunt but it was great to feel like I still had my partner in crime around. Happy Memorial Day friends.