Identity Trip

Yesterday I took the day off from work in order to renew my wife’s military ID card.  We noticed a couple weeks ago that it was set to expire shortly so we had to renew otherwise she would be dropped from the military system, including medical care.  She happily realized this meant another crack at shopping in Newport, RI and invited another member of the local chapter of the Panamanian mafia to accompany us.

Wife Renewing

I really enjoy hanging out with this member’s husband who is about as funny as they come; comparing notes about living with middle aged Panamanian women is a favorite topic.  We made our way to the fog bound Newport and waited thirty five minutes while the military bureaucracy slowly plodded through this routine transaction.  It’s nice to see some things haven’t changed.  They did apologize profusely when they noticed the retired colonel rank.  Re-entering the military world, even briefly, even with the Navy causes twinges in my soul.   There’s the siren call that this is where I’m supposed to be and why am I trying to masquerade as a civilian.  Maybe it was just getting saluted at the gate. 

My Friend Competing on the Wii, His Wife Not That Impressed

Once we obtained the new ID card we then moved to the next, coveted (for half of the party anywise) phase of the operation – shopping.  We hit both the commissary and the base exchange.  This free ID card was starting to get fairly expensive.  I wandered the exchange while the more qualified shoppers ravaged the landscape.  I did end up with a new blazer courtesy of my wife and a new pair of very loud yellow, lounge pants selected by myself.  I did mention my complete lack of fashion sense, right?  I walked around a corner and found my friend performing a dance competition in front of the Wii in the toy section. He achieved a respectable score and two 12 year girls watching from behind stated that he was pretty good.  He seemed inordinately pleased when I reported this. 

Lunch Destination

We left the base, ostensibly for lunch, but knowing we were heading towards more fertile shopping grounds since the military environment had been completely picked over.  We headed back to Busker’s, my favorite Newport hangout.  Usually I get to remain in the bar while the wife performs the required shopping foray.  Since this was a double date sort of situation, my friend and I were forced to accompany our wives into the vortex.  

Our Friends in Buskers

The Wife and I Across the Table

Luckily the weather, while gloomy, did not include rain and made for excellent people watching.  We spent some time sitting on benches outside various shoe and jewelry stores to watch the late summer Newport crowd amble by.  We ended up down by the harbor in a pier full of shopping venues as well as bars which was a lot of fun, although I would never admit that to the shoppers, our wives.  My wife concluded the foray with a bowl of ice cream, which was painful to watch from my keto perch. 

Wandering the Streets of Newport



I Tried Unsuccessfully to Tie Her to the Anchor to Prevent Shopping
She Was not to be Denied

Any Day that Ends with Ice Cream Cannot be Bad

While making my way through the afternoon I received a text, of all things, from my daughter referencing an earlier e-mail she sent me.  I had to perform certain bakery related tasks for the weekend that cannot be revealed at this time.  Luckily her years long quest to educate me in technology was sufficient to accomplish the task, kind of scary.  I must really be a civilian now.