Friday night was, indeed, 80s night: and it was EPIC. I picked up Miss J and brought her the matching $3 80s tshirt from Wal-Mart.... because, btw, if you're looking for the 80s, they are *actually* currently selling it in the juniors department. And yes.... I'm wearing an XL tshirt from the juniors department..... crazy. I'm also wearing some |
Miss J and I listened to 80s music on her iPhone (she's so trendy she is.....) and I think we had *almost* as much fun driving to the dance we had *at* the dance. That's kind of cool... when you don't need a room full of people to have as awesome time - just one good friend can be enough..... We met up with some other good friends and..... the dancing began.
It's crazy how I still remember the lyrics to EVERY. SINGLE. SONG. Even crazier that I can close my eyes and sing along and be right back to where I was when I was 10 or 11 years old and hearing those songs for the first time..... Only instead of awkwardly dancing next to pimply-faced boys.... now I'm surrounded by 80s dressed hotness..... did I mention how awesome it was?
Well.... it was.
Of course, while I was able to procure fantastic 80s shirts... finding something for my lower half proved to be a challenge as Wal-Mart was short on acid washed jeans.... damn.
So the kids and I ran to Old Navy in search of leggings and a skirt.... instead, I found some *great* skinny jeans.... (yes, I actually WORE skinny jeans... FOUR SIZES SMALLER than I did a year ago... ) - that were complete with ZIPPERS AT THE ANKLE!!!!!!! I swear I almost cried tears of joy.
Then The Girl found a shirt she couldn't live without... and coin purse and stuffed monkey and Princess water bottle... and The Boy found red shorts and stuffed penguin and a Superhero water bottle.... f*ck - am I Old Navy???? When did they start selling allll this other crap....? sigh.
All or stuff stacked on the counter, the cashier was checking us out when the family one register down was going over their pile of summer clothes for their kids.... their cashier was talking to our cashier about how the "Military Discount" was only good ON actual Memorial Day and not during the weekend... even through a general "Memorial Day Sale" WAS already going on....
The family was clearly disappointed - and having spent enough time as a single Mom on a budget, I recognized the mental bartering that was going on.... 'do we put *this* back or *that* back....?"
I waited patiently for either of the cashiers to call a manager.... they didn't.
I waited for either of them to just put in a code giving this family *any* discount..... they didn't.
Then I got kind of pissed.
I asked her how much the discount should be for, my cashier told me 10%.
Wait... all this conversation over a 10% discount that this man should get ANY motherf*cking day of the year.... but one he WOULD GET should he come back in three sleeps and a wake up?
Seriously?
I finished checking out, The Boy and The Girl were running for the door with their stuffed toys in their hands and I walked over to the family, who were *not* checked out, a line was forming behind them and they were still debating what to put back.....
I pulled out $20, put it on the counter and said, "Here's your discount.... thank you for your service."
They looked at my in surprise.... the man said, "You don't have to do that...." But, he said it in a kind voice....
and I said.... "Yup, I sure don't. I don't do anything I don't want to do .... I don't want to spend six months in the sand getting a sunburn and watching for landmines. I'm also selfish and refuse to leave my family for even a long weekend... let alone a year long deployment. You do those things.... and I get to sleep peacefully at night because you do.... " and then I ran after The Boy and The Girl... who were *not* listening at all....
sigh.
And then I came home and fired off a series of nasty emails to Old Navy where I pointed out that their ill-trained cashiers could have called for a manager, could have offered this family another coupon code.... and how it's BULLSHIT that they run a "sale" playing on our patriotism and then deny a whopping 10% discount to a military family because they shopped on the 'wrong' day......
| It's Memorial Day and coming from a family that has tons and tons of military service (past and present) in it's history, this weekend does actually meant more to me than just an extra day off. Mind you, I think it is that way for many people these days ,at least according to facebook... |
Another friend recently shared with me their own personal struggle on the opposite side of marriage. She and her wife are only "civil union" recognized..... and I have to admit, when she first started talking I was like "huh? who cares what you call it...... you're married: be glad! lol"..... however the more she talked, the more I realized that I was totally ignorant to her plight.
And then I felt like sh*t.
Because of DOMA, which (basically) doesn't recognize "gay marriage" as 'legal' under Federal Law, and as such, persons in a civil union are *not* treated the same under federal law - so this affects taxes and social security benefits and a zillion other things it seems..... sigh.
Even though Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed, because DOMA is in place and "gay marriage" isn't legal in a federal sense - it kind of doesn't count. The military has to treat the soldiers *family* as the next of kin, not the "gay" spouse. The spouse then loses out on medical and financial benefits that *are* available to "straight"/legal married spouses in the military.
I don't really care where *anyone* comes down on the debate of so-called "gay marriage".... how can we ask a person to be willing to give US - 100% of themselves... and possibly even their LIFE to protect OUR "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" while *we* and our elected government don't value THEM OR THEIR SPOUSE as a human being who deserves 100% of our respect and recognition for whoever they want to marry? Because that's what we're doing.... we are taking a human who has 100% value and then because they have a same sex partner: we de-value them. We're offering them less.... why?
Shame on us.
Shame on our government.
It seems odd to me, especially in the shoes *I'm* in and knowing our countries statistics for divorce is now *OVER* 50% ... actually, according to a recent study:
- The divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41%
- The divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60%
- The divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73%
Seems like even with practice... "straight" people don't seem to be getting it right.... and given that sooooo many 'legal' and federally recognized marriages aren't so *HAPPY* and end up down the heartbreak sh*tter....I can see why some people are so keen to stop "GAY" people from getting married... because surely they couldn't possibly have happier unions than straight people.... right?
(please tell me that you know 'gay' is another word for happy..... right? RIGHT? lol)
So, we can post a bunch of pictures on our facebook pages and tie yellow ribbons around trees or whatever the hell it is we're doing to let our friends and neighbors knows that we are good Americans who 'Support Our Troops'..... but I hope you'll take a minute to watch the clip above and if you're on the "side of the aisle" that already supports Gay Marriage - please find a way to let the people in power know that.
And if you're on the "side of the aisle" that doesn't support Gay Marriage, perhaps this video will give you a reason to look a little further into what DOMA is actually doing to honest, true, red-blooded American soldiers and ask yourself if that's right.....
We're asking these soldiers to fight in wars for *everyone's* right to democracy and equality: are they not entitled to the same? That seems really crazy and ass-backwards to me. It's up to *US* to make change - and sometimes that change starts with us - tolerance is a beautiful thing because it doesn't mean you have to agree with something, it only means you have to be respectful of it and it's right to exist.
Trust me... if I can find tolerance and acceptance of the woman who cheated with my husband... some of ya'll can suck it up and tolerate equal rights for total strangers.... believe me. lololol