Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, looks on as First Lady Michelle Obama addresses the crowd in the Pentagon Courtyard on April 9th.
Since I began working at the Pentagon in June 2009, I made an internal list of “Things I would like to do, people I would like to meet…and well anything else I could accomplish while working for the Army Chief of Public Affairs.
I must say in less than a year, I have checked things off my list that weren’t even on the list to begin with! I have live blogged from the Army Chief of Staff’s family forums at AUSA, attended an Army Leadership Forum with the Secretary of the Army and witnessed a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
And as great and honorable as those events were, I was afforded the opportunity to check off one of the top spots on my list-meeting First Lady, Michelle Obama.
After waiting in line for about 45 minutes-just to get outside in the Courtyard-I managed to get one of the best seats (well standing positions) at the event. While waiting another two hours for the event to begin, I tried to keep myself from completely going insane at the mere thought of being less than 12 feet away from the First Lady of the United States. So, even though the wind would not calm down, I managed to relax enough for the butterflies in my stomach to subside.
That was only until the lady behind me began to yell, “She’s here; the First Lady is here!!”
That’s when all the excitement finally overwhelmed me and I began to yell and scream like my daughter when she saw the elephants at the circus.
When she approached the podium, after a brief introduction by the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Gates (yet another check on my list), she spoke very sincerely about how grateful she was to be in the presence of so many military personnel and DOD civilians. She talked about her passion to continue her work for military families and how she is committed to increasing programs, providing better housing and renovating/rebuilding schools on installations around the country. In the end, she couldn’t thank the military Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, Coast Guards, Marines and civilians employees enough for their service to our country. And she even displayed her gratitude by coming around and greeting everyone she could with a handshake or hug (Yep, I got one of those handshakes).
On Friday I go the chance to mark through something else on my internal list. It was definitely one I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity to check off. But as the saying goes, “Never say Never!”
Now only if President Obama could stop by…
Have something cool on your list you had the opportunity to check off? Tell us about it in the comments section.
