Life: Idiotropic

Imagine, that you can make a list of as many friends as you'd like - all the people that you know and like - all the people that you'd like to spend time with, have coffee with, invite over for dinner, and don't have time to, the teachers, coworkers, kids' friends...

And then, you just hand that over to someone and they plan a party complete with dinner and a band. It's at a beautiful castle. You pay a little for your ticket and then just show up. No mess, no cleanup, no stress. Just food, friends, and a fabulous night at a castle.

That was our Saturday night.

I've never been to an AF Birthday Ball. They happen every year, but either it's been bad timing or we just didn't want to go. Sometimes they can fall under the "mandatory fun" category and we all know that if it's "mandatory," then it's not going to be very fun. And this year, despite my bemoaning the fact that I couldn't find a dress that I really was excited to wear, Kirk felt that he should go and I wasn't about to let him to to a ball at a castle without me.

Thankfully his cast (6 weeks for tendinitis) fit inside his pantleg and his little "shoe" was the right shade of AF blue.

We had a wonderfully relaxing evening at Kasteel Hoensbroek. The evening was running horribly behind schedule, so at one point, we started to worry that we might never eat, but the slow pace allowed us to walk around and mingle more than most AF gatherings. And there were so many people there than I honestly like and wanted to talk to - too many, really. Certainly more than I had time to see. All the ladies dressed very nicely - ball gowns of all sorts including one VERY LARGE hoop skirt and one VERY lowcut/revealing dress - both becoming the whispered talk of the night among the ladies. Some things don't change with age. Rivers would have had a great time at this one.

The obligatory guest speaker was kind enough to keep it short and by 10 (it started at 5:30), the dining hour was over and the band began - the AF band from Ramstein singing country, rock, and all sorts of upbeat tunes - not what you would picture when thinking of a military band. No marching music here, but they were all in their mess dress - I should have gotten a photo. It was funny.

A small group of Navy came - there are about 10 on this base. One stood up to toast the AF and said that like a good big brother, they'd buy the AF a drink on it's birthday, so the Navy put money on the bar for us all. I wasn't drinking, but the thought was very nice, and with 350 people there, it was a very generous birthday gift.

Upstairs in the castle was GB's (Great Britain) party - they had loud music and a lot of flashing colored lights showing up in their windows. I was tempted to crash it - just out of curiosity, but Kirk and I were both ready to go home by 11.

A good night... and now I can say I've been to a ball at a castle. Pretty cool.

.... check out the photos that were taken... no great ones of us, but we are in #119... don't laugh.