Aloha Friends... We'll Miss You!

Karen and her husband John came to visit us this past week from Hawaii. The relationship that Drew and I had with “Major Doyle” in college was multi-faceted. When we first met, she was the adult and we were the kids. She was our leader, our mentor, our coach, our confidant, and our advisor. After our recent visit, I think that I can add great friend to that list (and of course, John as well!) This is Karen’s blog post about our time together because she said it better than I ever could.

“Drew and I go back. When I arrived at Western Maryland College in summer of ’96, Drew was a rising senior in the ROTC program. I met him when I went down to Fort Bragg to visit the cadets we had at Camp. They had a whopping half day off on 4th of July, so I took them to lunch and the opening of Independence Day. They may have enjoyed the movie, or perhaps they enjoyed a cheeseburger and beer-induced nap in an air conditioned room with cushy chairs. No matter; they felt the love and I was deemed cool. Honestly, a lot of leaders like to start a relationship by being a hard-ass and then getting easier, but that’s because they assume people are going to take advantage of you. Gee, what if you gave them the benefit of the doubt? Whoops, OK coming back from a soapbox tangent now....

So it was my first year as Professor of Military Science, and Drew was one of the four seniors in the program. They broke me in and I broke them in. I needed to be acculturated (to use a made up Army word) and I was a lot different than my predecessor. I’m sure that was a good thing, but also it was a challenge for them as we all had a lot to learn. Drew and Elaine had been dating since freshman year, so they were already a package and I got to know Elaine as well. While Drew was developing into a fine Army Officer, Elaine was learning about what it’s like to be an Army Wife. I loved sharing my experience with all the cadets and their girlfriends/boyfriends/parents and I will always cherish that assignment as the best job I ever had.

Fast forward a dozen years and Drew and Elaine are married with two wonderful kids.

Molly lives in a PINK world. Her room is pink, her clothes are pink, and most of her silly bands are pink! Brody is obsessed with tractors... especially if they are John Deere and most especially if they are GINORMOUS. What’s great is that Drew and Elaine DO know how good they have it. We just had so much fun... eating Lucky Charms, “mowing” the grass, playing Princess, riding bikes and picking strawberries. And after the kids went to bed, the hootenanny started. Yep, it was a game of Alaskan Bear Farkel, and yep, it was Chicks in Charge! John rolled a 5200 during one game and STILL lost, and Drew somehow ended up with the royal title of Prince Farkel. Elaine and I were pleased. I guess the men were too, because they didn’t have to sleep in the garage... :)

Loved the eats! Who doesn’t love Lucky Charms? (and I’m not allowed to have them at home...) But we balanced our meals with delicious fresh strawberries that we picked ourselves -- uh, helloooo -- and that counts as exercise! And, um, that was right after we had burgers and fries and onion rings and sweet potato fries at The Penguin. (Hey, it’s famous! We had to do it!)

Thanks Drew, Elaine, Molly and Brody for making us part of your family and having so much fun with us!”

Love, Auntie Karen and “that man.”