Things I have learnt

This weekend my younger sister was married to her soldier. I was very good and only referred to her as My Little Sister twelve times and My Baby Sister nine times. I shall now be referring to her as My Married Sister.

Things I have learnt as a result of my (Baby) sister getting married:

• I get more emotional at weddings as I get older. I cried on the Groom's shoulder after the speeches, I cried when my Mother smiled at me in the chapel, I cried at the first dance and I cried when I saw my sister's place setting for dinner with 'Mrs' at the front of her name.
• Maybe the crying is partly the champagne.
• That sometimes the weather is just perfect.
• That looking after children at weddings gets vastly easier with every year of their life. I barely saw C & O unless there was food on offer.
• Small boys are in awe of real life soldiers, with real life swords. And spurs!
• That small girls (and grown up girls) also love a soldier. Especially when they are wearing raspberry coloured trousers and carrying swords.
• That my daughter is going to be TROUBLE in ten years time. She ran up to me, breathless, at about half past eleven in the evening and said "Mum! I'm dancing with soldiers!" and then ran back to the dance floor.
• Please note the use of the plural in that last sentence.
• That I should not share a hotel room with my children. Ever. One talks in his sleep and is prone to attacks of cramp in the middle of the night. The other snores like an old bear.
• That family and old friends restore your soul.
  

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With thanks to my father in law for some of these photos, and also to Sue and Katie and several others for their VERY kind words about this blog.

Welcome home

This afternoon my brother-in-law, N, left Iraq for the UK at the end of his tour of duty there with his tank regiment. My sister was with me when she got the call from him earlier today to say that he was ready to board the plane and leave, and we have been celebrating ever since.

When N left for Iraq I knew it would affect my sister, but I didn't expect it to affect me as much as it did. Suddenly every time I woke in the morning to hear on Radio 4 the words "A British soldier has been killed in Iraq..." my stomach lurched and my heart thumped until I heard the name of the regiment.

We had to explain to C & O the realities of what their uncle serving in Iraq meant. They listened quietly to my explanation and at the end O calmly said what none of the rest of us had dared speak out loud, "Well I'll keep my fingers crossed that Uncle N doesn't get deaded then".

Over the past six months I have learnt many new things about the British Army, and the life of its soldiers and their families, that I didn't know before.

• soldiers in Iraq sleep with walls of breeze blocks around their beds to protect them in case of mortar attacks during the night
• a parcel of haribo sweets boosts morale
• you can upload photos to your Facebook profile from the Iraqi desert
• wives and girlfriends of soldiers serving in warzones have their mobile phones with them all the time - even in the shower
• letters from home mean more than you could ever imagine - even a glitter covered drawing of a pony from your niece is a good thing to receive
• soldiers are still equipped with bayonets
• when your soldier tells you he is stuck behind a desk at base doing boring admin, he is doing anything but
• you don't pay any postage when you send a parcel to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan
• soldiers in Iraq still get to watch rugby world cup games
  

N, we are all so proud of you and delighted to have you home. When O heard you were coming back she grinned and said "Good! He didn't get deaded then!"

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