It's just tea...isn't it?

I was born and raised in northern Wisconsin (friends of mine in college used to jokingly refer to my hometown as "nearly Canada") and, as such, have been accustomed for the majority of my life to an outdoor environment closely resembling a walk-in freezer. While many individuals adore the icy weather and nearly immeasurable yearly snowfall of such northern climes, I personally have never quite taken to winter (actually, anything below 60*F is, in my opinion, too cold...you can imagine how well that went over growing up). Given the nearly-year-round exposure to temperatures well below freezing, my beverage preferences usually ran along the lines of "steaming"...cocoa, coffee, cider, and, of course, tea. Nothing in the world works to fend off a wintry chill quite like a huge mug of tea and over the years I have consumed thousands of piping-hot cups.

However, after marrying my Air Force pilot and moving south, I ran into something of a dilemma. Summers in Georgia are quite different from Wisconsin; going outside is here is more like walking into a sauna than the aforementioned freezer. Enter sweet tea. Such a highly-sugared version was, at first, an unsettling concept as I had until that point preferred my tea hot with cream and a minimal amount of sugar. However, I quickly learned - and was encouraged by my husband who, having lived in North Carolina for several years, has had a liking for the beverage for some time - that nothing refreshes you on a 95*F-with-86%-humidity day like a tall glass of ice-cold sweet tea. Unfortunately, despite multiple attempts, it soon became clear that even the gas station down the road from our house could apparently brew a better pitcher of the sweet stuff than I, a northern-Wisconsin import used to brewing only single servings of hot tea, could.

This is where the satellite dish guys came in. Yes, you read that correctly. After several months of the television set being used for nothing except movies and the occasional video game, we decided to have satellite dish service installed (I used the in-progress 2012 Summer Olympics and the upcoming NFL season as my primary reasons...someone didn't argue too much). As the day on which the company representative arrived to hook up our service was a typical mid-summer scorcher, I offered the gentleman a cold drink and listed the options we had on hand. When I mentioned "iced tea," his eyebrows went up and he asked (I now believe out of sheer curiosity given my "accent") what kind of tea. I had to admit it was bottled peach-flavored iced tea, which prompted a hearty laugh and an exclamation of, "You're not from the south, are you, ma'am?" I said no, I was not, and explained my (by now many) failed attempts at brewing an even halfway-decent pitcher of sweet tea. He asked me to collect a pencil and paper while he finished installing the dish components and then kindly offered me his mama's recipe/method; he even requested I show him the pitcher I would be brewing the tea in to determine how much tea and sugar I would need for a proper batch. Low and behold, after following his instructions the next day (I had to make a grocery store run to obtain the right type of tea), I finally had a pitcher of sweet tea I could serve to company and be proud of.

The DirecTV Guy's Mama's Sweet Tea (makes approximately 2 liters)
2 family-size "Luzianne" brand tea bags
2 liters + 1/2 C. cold water
3/4 C. white granulated sugar

Pour 2 liters of cold water into a large saucepan; add the tea bags and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the tea mixture 30-45 minutes until desired strength has been reached (apparently you can learn to tell by the color; I've just stuck with 35 minutes and have been happy with the results). Meanwhile, pour the sugar into the bottom of the pitcher in which you'll be serving the tea. Heat the remaining 1/2 C. of water to a boil and add to the pitcher, swirling to ensure all the sugar melts (basically you're making a simple syrup). Once the tea has finished steeping, remove the tea bags and pour the hot tea into the pitcher containing the water/sugar mixture. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until well-chilled (do not add ice while the tea is hot as this may alter the flavor of the tea and water the entire mixture down).

A Little (More) Knowledge Can Be...Interesting

     In the time between going from "More-Than-Friends" to "I Do," my [now] husband completed three combat deployments to Afghanistan and an additional disaster relief assignment with me in the role of "the girl back home." Between news coverage, e-mails, and Skype dates (thank you, by the way, to whoever invented Skype...you are a God-send to military families everywhere!) I felt I had a pretty comprehensive grasp of the dangers my guy could potentially be going through and was sure I was strong enough to hear any stories of battle scenarios which might come up in the future. I think the appropriate saying in a situation like this would be something akin to "Pride goeth before the fall."

    Flash-forward thirteen months and my husband - an HH-60G Pavehawk helicopter rescue pilot - had just returned from a four-and-a-half-month deployment, the first for us to experience as a married couple. Ironically, the timing of his squadron's return coincided almost exactly with the premier of a six-part series on the National Geographic channel called "Inside Combat Rescue," an inside-look at the goings on of rescue squadrons on deployment at Kandahar Air Base in southern Afghanistan. The show specifically focuses on the "PJ's" (Pararescue Jumpers), but the footage also captures a great deal of the flight crews as well as general day-to-day deployment life for the men/women in the rescue community. The night we settled down on the couch to watch the first episode, I was still under the impression I understood what my husband goes through during his combat deployments and that I could stomach anything the show could possibly reveal.

    I saw my first amputation that night. It was neither a cleverly-designed stage makeup with CG gore, nor the type of neatly-contained image from an operating room one might see in an anatomy class. It was a soldier, the medic of an army platoon, who happened to be riding a motorcycle and had the disastrous misfortune of driving over a mine. I also witnessed the frustration of the men when, after an alert came in reporting two seriously-wounded children, the crews were moments later informed the mission was scrubbed because the injuries had not been the fault of coalition forces and therefore fell to the responsibility of the ANA (Afghan National Army) to respond to; it was later revealed help came too late and one of the children died from their injuries.

    These images, combined with my husband's explanations and comments of familiarity with the situations on the screen in front of me, knocked my pre-conceptions of understanding clear out of the park. More than once throughout the course of the hour-long episode I felt myself going pale and my grip tightening vise-like on my husband's hand. However, surprisingly, at the end of the show, my primary emotion wasn't fear or disgust; it was unbelievable respect. The fact people like my husband can go through such experiences - not just once, but multiple times, and willingly to boot - and then come home and not only step back into "normal life" but do so as a loving, humorous, kind individuals is completely beyond me.     

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If anyone is interested in watching National Geographic's "Inside Combat Rescue," the episodes air Monday evenings at 10:00 PM EST. Information on the show may be found at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/inside-combat-rescue/ Please be advised the show is very graphic and may not be appropriate for younger viewers or those with weak stomachs.
     

An Experimental Vent for Creativity

As a studio art major in college, my primary goal after graduation was to set up a studio, work on my master's degree, and find myself a comfortable little niche in some cozy Midwestern town to settle into. Nearly five years later, I find myself married to a man who not only appreciates all of my artful quirkiness and scholarly ambitions but also shares my desire to find that aforementioned niche. The catch? He's in the Air Force, which as anyone familiar with military life will know means uprooting every several years (or months, in some cases) to move to a new state or country - not exactly conducive to putting down any serious roots to speak of. However, as I was raised with the constant reminders that 1. God has a sense of humor and 2. everything happens for a reason, I see re-assignments as opportunities to explore and expand my knowledge of the world in general in ways I most likely would never have been able to had I moved directly to the rural paradise I imagined as an undergraduate.

"Great," you might say, "but why on earth the blog?" As the daughter of a former English teacher, reading and writing have always been major parts of my life. For whatever reason, I glommed-on to the concept of journal-keeping with particular enthusiasm; I began keeping a diary when I was six-years-old and have continued recording my personal thoughts and experiences to this day. I also happened to marry into a VERY literary-minded family; with a mother-in-law and sister-in-law who are both published authors and a husband with an exceptionally creative story telling streak, inspiration for writing is not exactly difficult to come by.

As a matter of fact, the catalyst for finally starting a blog about life as an artist/traveler/military spouse came during a recent visit to my sister-in-law and her husband's home in North Carolina; we were discussing writing - blogs in particular - over a twenty-something-th cup of tea and the conversation went something like this: "So...why haven't you started a blog about life as a military wife yet?" "I don't know. I guess I just haven't gotten the ambition worked up yet. I even designed a page, but haven't written any posts yet." "Well, you should."

So here we are. I can't say how frequent my posts will be, or even what the particular topics will focus on...though given the fact I tend towards the more artistic side of things, I would imagine any blog writings will likely follow suit. Should be a fun ride...