It's over!

When Brian took command of the 15th Air Mobility Operations Squadron (AMOS) on June 20, 2012 we had no idea what we were getting into... We had no idea what would be asked of us and no idea of how much we would give. Not every day was easy, but some days were amazing. Those were the days when we knew that we had really touched someone, when we had really been able to help, when we knew we had made a difference. I will never know if I did enough... There were days that I felt I should be doing more for our squadron, my AMOS spouses, the Air Force. And there were days when I felt like I was doing too much! I only hope that throughout the 722 days that Brian was in command, we made some little impact on someone...

The AMOS spouses group hosted a wonderful dinner for me- where I of course cried! I was so touched that in lieu of a gift, they all donated over $300 to give to one of our former AMOS families who's 7 yr old daughter is fighting cancer! Once an AMOS family, always an AMOS family. 

While I did not take any photos of Brian's awesome going away- a golf tournament and squadron family picnic/cookout, I do have a photo of his gift... Check out the size of this engraved wine bottle he was given-

That is a regular size bottle on the left! He was given so many other heartfelt gifts that we will cherish forever too. Leaving is always so bittersweet...

The night before Brian's Change of Command, it got real when we went to pack up his huge office!

And then it was suddenly the day it would be all over!!!

NO ONE expected that Brian would take a selfie at his Change of Command-

He surely ruffled the feathers of the Protocol officers! 

 "Sir, I relinquish command." It was music to MY ears!

They say the two happiest people at the change of command are the incoming commander and the outgoing command spouse- I AGREE!!! Yes, yes of course I cried. There is a reason command is only 2 years- because you burn out! It was time and we know that the incoming commander (who we became friendly with over the last year) and his wife will do a rockstar job!

While I was a tad sad for Brian that his time in command was over, I was overjoyed that our packers pushed back our pack-out by a day- so that meant when the change of command was over at 11:30am, we were free for one last afternoon in Napa! We couldn't have been happier. 

 First we went to lunch at Hurley's in downtown Yountville-

And then we went to do one last wine tasting at the Elizabeth Spencer Winery, one of the two memberships we decided to keep after moving. (Wine can be shipped, thank goodness!)

Cheers to me, the former "First Lady of the AMOS", for giving it my all! 

(That night was very anticlimactic when we realized how much we still had left to do before the packers arrived in the morning! We were planning a cross country move for goodness sake! What were we thinking wasting the day away in Napa?!?!)