June 2009 – Mercy Hall

It’s a BBQ!

 

 

Back in January when I mentioned a BBQ to the
Sgt., she pointed out to me that there were three charcoal grills
out on the patio. I was riding home with Jack from that luncheon
and mentioned a cook-out to him, and he wondered if maybe his MCL
detachment might enjoy helping with one.

 

They talked about it among themselves and decided
they would so that’s what we did this month. The detachment funded
it and the MM-B Crew prepped it, we all set it up together and had
a great luncheon for the guys!

 

One thing I forgot to do was check the Farmer’s
Almanac for the weather forecast before I asked for this date way
in advance.  June in Merryland is nice. In fact it’s
gorgeous. We’re past the cold, it’s not unbearably hot, and everything
is green, lush, and beautiful. We still get May Showers in Early
June, though.

 

The evening before the BBQ I had an email from
Jess:

“Do you by any chance have a contingency plan
in case of rain?”

“No, because it’s not going to rain.”

 

I had done the shopping here earlier in the day,
had all the food, plenty of hamburgers, hot dogs, and kielbasa;
even bought marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers for
S’mores. The grocery store even had – GET THIS – S’more sticks!!!
Okay so they look like long dowels that had been put in a pencil
sharpener. Still cool though! I bought a dozen that the guys could
share. Jess had the corn and the pasta salad ready to go.

 It
wasn’t going to rain!

 

“We’re under a flood watch.” (Jess lives much
closer to the hospital than I do and our weather forecasts can be
different.)

I went online to my favorite weather site and
punched in the zip code forBethesda.

Uh oh.

 

Now we’re on the phone -

Jess: “I have a George Foreman grill. Why don’t
I bring that and you see if you can come up with some electric skillets
and we’ll do the hamburgers like that if we have to.”

“Okay, good idea.”

*mumble mumble it’s not gonna rain*

 

Plus I don’t have an electric skillet.

Jane to Gladys – “Send an electric skillet with
Bob, please.”

“I don’t have one.”

Uh oh.

 

Chris stopped by with a box full of nifty-gifties
to take to the guys.

“Do you by any chance have an electric skillet?”

“Sure do!”

 

Long story short, we didn’t cookout. The clouds
and the weather forecast were just too ominous that morning. Jack,
Jim, Donald and Wayne were great sports. They showed up with their
big umbrellas and were ready to flip hamburgers in the rain for
the guys!

 

The hotdogs, kielbasa, and corn on the cob went
into crockpots, we nixed the skillet idea and I’m buying back the
hamburgers and some other things, BUT I’m saving the S’more stuff
for the next Mercy Hall luncheon.

 

Jess and Bob rode together and arrived about
a half hour before the rest of us did, checked in with the Liaison
office and Mercy Hall, and did a table safari. We arrived, unloaded,
got situated and by the time that Wayne and I returned to Mercy
Hall from parking the cars, all was under control. Jess had assigned
jobs to everyone and with Bob’s help they had just about everything
set up.

 

 

 

 

Jess
doing her “final inspection” of the tables.

 

 

 

 

What’s
a barbecue without a watermelon?

 

 

 

 

After
everything was  ready,
Jess began assembling her seated massage chair as a

 Marine patiently waited for a free massage.

 

 

 

 

 

There
was time for one of the Elfs to have a turn.

 

 

As
Marines began coming in for lunch Pat handed out notes, Dunkin Donut
gift cards from Chris and phone cards from Judy. We had some shirts
from the Choptank MCL detachment to give out, and special smoothie
cups for the guys to keep thanks to

WA
State Operation Thank You.

There
were also absolutely awesome homemade pillowcases from Bayside Quilters,

and
beautiful afghans from Esther and Her Ladies.

 

 

 

There
was some quiet time for conversations.

 

 

 

 

There
were stories to share.

 

 

And
you know what?

It
didn’t rain while we were there. We could have fired up the grills.

 

Among
the guys we met, there were Marines from

South Carolina, Wyoming,
andMaryland.

 I like to ask the guys where they are from,
and they get this far-away look in their eyes.

One
thing they love – their hometown.

 

And
their families.

 

You
all mean so much to them… maybe more than you know.

 

Until
next time, continued prayers for our military and their families.

 

Love
and Hugs,

 

 

 

 

I warned
the MCL’rs that it is always an adventure when we go toBethesda and it was!

Thank
you all SO much for your help!

 

 

Please
check out Marine Moms-Bethesda “Baskets of Love” Quilt Raffle.

All
funds raised from it will support our monthly luncheons, gift bags
and pantry items

for
Mercy Hall and 5 East.

http://www.marinemoms-bethesda.org/quiltraffle/index.html

 

Tags:

Comments

Comments are closed.