Operation Home Cooking

Yesterday I along with 2500 other military spouses were given the gift of Operation Home Cooking. The organizers of the Metropolitan Cooking show here in DC decided they wanted to treat military spouses to a special day out. It was a great way to spend a day.

We got to start off our day being greeted by lots of military officials and then we had a cooking demonstration by Peter Smith, who came in 2nd place on Top Chef and owns a restaurant in DC. He was really fun to watch and created a scallop and pasta dish. Then a Master Sargent from the Army and his crew showed us his favorite pecan pie. He also provided the crowd with a bunch of tips.

I was excited to see Dr Jill Biden walk up beside us. I have highly admired what she and the First Lady Michele Obama are trying to do for our military families. I wanted to run up and thank her, but the Secret Service are not big fans of you doing that. So I just took pictures of her instead. Dr Biden talked for a little bit and thanked the crowd for their service sacrifices. She was an amazing speaker and you could feel how sincere she was about her words. Dr. Biden then introduced Guy Fieri.

Guy is hilarious. I have watched his show several times, but I had no idea how funny he was. We laughed and laughed and laughed. He kept giving things away to the crowd and at one point he threw a ham. Guy made a bacon-pork roll up and green bean casserole. It smelled so yummy and delicious. I really wish they would have let us try some of it.

Our special event was over and my friend Heather (who I came to the event with) and I saw some of our other friends from the hospital. We went over to talk with them and then I noticed Dr. Biden was talking to other spouses. I told Heather I wanted to meet her and we decided that we would hang around long enough to meet her. I am so glad we did. We got to watch Guy walk up and talk with Dr Biden and it was so cool to just watch them hang out. Then Guy suggested that we take a group picture.


After the group picture we started to walk away but Dr Biden's aide told us to stay and get our own pictures. We waited around a little longer and we got our one on one!! Dr Biden was so gracious and lovely. I would LOVE to sit down and have a real conversation with her and thank her for everything she is trying to do for our military families. She offered to take one on one pictures, but Heather and I decided to get one together because their were so many others behind us. We wanted to give them their turn. Dr Biden asked where we were stationed and when we told her we were wounded warrior wives, she immediately asked if anyone from the White House had reached out to us. I got to tell her I had met the President twice and that his fabulous aide was in touch with our family frequently. She then asked for our names and wished us and our soldiers well.

Heather and I ventured out into the cooking show. It reminded me of the Southern Living shows we have in TN. Tons of food and drink samples, cooking demonstrations, cookbooks and on and on. We bumped into one of the moms whose son is in the same company as our husbands. So our duo became a trio. We had such a great day. We walked around and compared and told our stories. It was great to have a day away from the hospital and it just be about us gals. We discovered some awesome peanut butter, some great granola and I found this awesome coffee stuff.

When I returned home I got to hear all about Chaz and the girls' day. Chaz drove them to the hospital for their Fall Family day and then to Taco Bell for lunch. It is so awesome that we have our van. Help Our Military Heroes thank you again for awarding us that van. Our van gives Chaz his freedom back and it is just incredible. He can just get in a drive, no legs required. The girls love having Daddy drive because they think it is so cool. Chaz can have his Daddy/Daughter dates just like he did before January 22, 2011 thank to your organization. After we shared our day with each other, we all jumped in our bed and cuddled and watched some Disney together.

Days like yesterday make the road to the new normal so freaking awesome! Thanks again to Operation Home Cooking and Help Our Military Heroes for making our day so great!!!