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We moved to D.C. with me kicking and screaming because I didn’t want to leave Hawaii.  One of my good friends told me to think about the bright side of the move.  Hmmmm….bright side of leaving beautiful weather year round to move to D.C. where it’s cold in the winter?  Girl, no!  She said, “I think D.C. will be a great move for Mamas and Coffee.”  Blah, blah.  Well, once I announced the move to my group so many mentioned they lived in the DMV.  Oh, snap.  My friend may have a point.  She encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and go for it.  So, one day I was clicking around and saw where Blue Star Families needed someone in the D.C. area to cover the Netflix Medal Of Honor Documentary event.  I’m a military spouse, so why not reach out and see how this goes.

Before realizing what I’d done I contacted them for more information.  Then I contacted a friend of mine asking if we were going to go.  My husband came home, and as we talked about our day, I mentioned this opportunity.  He immediately said, “Ok, I’m in!”  My friend was ok with not going, but I promised that she gets the next guest ticket.

Ok, let’s talk about the Medal Of Honor Red Carpet Event

Traffic in D.C. is insane!  I drove into the city to pick hubby up from work and off to The United States Navy Memorial Museum where the event was held.  Luckily we arrived early cause I had to sit in the parking garage to compose myself.  Y’all, I was so nervous.  Yes, the gal with the gift of gab was nervous about meeting and talking with people.

Once inside we checked in with Netflix, received our tickets and escorted downstairs.  We walked around exploring the museum a bit, eyeballed the food and caught a peak of one of Ty Carter’s interview.

After Ty finished up with this interview, they asked if I wanted to interview him.  Yes, but in a more conversational manner.  He came over, and we chatted.  SPC. Ty M. Carter’s story can be watched in Episode 8.  He received his medal for the heroic act on Oct. 3, 2009, during the attack on Combat Outpost Keating.

I knew there would be questions during the panel discussion after viewing his episode, so I didn’t want to ask anything formal.  Instead, I wanted to know it felt to walk on set and meet the actor Jonny Weston portraying your story on screen.  You see in the photo, he is holding up four fingers?  Well, my hubby snapped the picture at the best moment and that smirk on my face.  Well, that was right before I busted out laughing.  Paraphrasing here, “I thought, man you’re going to have to bulk up.  I’m a big guy, and I had to carry Mace.  Then I watched Mr. Wetson record that scene four times carrying my partner. ”

Pause for some food.  Yo, my husband was enjoying the food.  The servers knew he would accept anything they came his way with.  Yes, we cracked jokes about this all night.

Army Captain Florent Groberg saved many lives during combat operations against an armed enemy in Asadabad, Kunar Province, Afghanistan on August 8, 2012.  During our conversation, I asked him his reason for joining the military.  He simply stated, “The attack of 2001.”

He has a great sense of humor.  During the introduction, I introduced myself as being there on behalf of Blue Star Families and that my husband is active duty Navy.  He leaned over to my husband and said, “GO ARMY!  BEAT NAVY!”

Mrs. Allena Carter was in attendance to represent SGT. Edward Carter.  Mrs. Carter is the daughter-in-law to SGT Carter.  It was our pleasure meeting and talking to her.  His story can be seen in episode three.  Let me just paint the picture for you….black man, WWII.  Her goal is to keep SGT Carter’s legacy alive for her daughter and granddaughter.  It took over 50 years for his heroism to be recognized.  But I can tell that his daughter-in-law is going to keep his legacy alive.  Amazing story and truly happy we met. Mrs. Carter recommended that I read  Honoring Sergeant Carter. A book about his family’s journey to uncover the truth about an American Hero.

By this point of the evening, I was on fire.  I was back to the gift of gab me.  So, here I am striking up random conversations with people about random things.  That’s what I do.  Yes, I’m that lady in the grocery store who will stand there and talk to you about chicken or why we torture ourselves trying to accommodate our kids’ lunches.

A lady was standing near, and we started talking.  The conversation drifted to being a military spouse and the things we deal with on the homefront and information that we hold or just do not know.  She began telling me about Mrs. Etchberger, Chief Reichard Etchberger’s wife from Episode 7.  Wait!  I’m talking to the daughter-in-law of another Medal of Honor Recipient?! Hubby and I took a group picture with the sons and then we needed one of just us ladies.

POSE, POSE

Ok, we’re still moving along in the evening.  Hubby was enjoying himself.  He was even chatting it up.  Our roles reversed on this night.  He’s usually the quiet one, and I’m the talkative one.  Well, not this time.  I overheard him talking to a guy about shoes.  WHHAAATTTT???!!!!!  Yes, they had a conversation about shoes and keeping their shoe game up.  While this was going on, I was trying to get a quick conversation with Megan McCain.  I had played out how we would talk, and she would invite me to be a guest on The View.

You know it happened!!!  Oh, not the invite to The View, but I did get that picture, and my husband was sure to tell her that he’s a huge fan and how he watches The View every morning as he workouts.  Yes, he DVR’s it.  Let me tell you about how this photo went down.

Standing there, anticipating the right moment to jump in.  Cause I mean, no one knew who I was.  You had Netflix producers there and all these other important people.

Oh wait!  MomJonz had to snap out of it!  Had to remind myself what I always preach.  Know You Be You Love You®.  And this was the time to put that in full gear.  So, took one of those morning pep talk sessions and got my life together.  Hmmmm….girl no.  MomJonz is important too.  Yes, that’s what I said to myself. Just as Megan went in the opposite direction I was standing. I had to take a deep breath and be a big girl. Head up, shoulders back, firm steps (you know, the heels clicking down the hall and you know your boss means business) and the delivery.  “Excuse me.  Megan, my name is Sybil, and I’m here tonight representing Blue Star Families. This is my husband Marcus, he’s active duty Navy. I would love a photo with you to share with our audience.”

She politely turned and said, “sure, would love to.  Give your phone to this gentleman, and he can take the photo of all of us.  He’s with me.”  It was the shoe game man my husband was talking to.  Dude, I went through this whole pep talk, and you could’ve asked for a picture?  Ok, anywho, back to the story.  Ya’ll let me tell you what I really wanted to say.  “Hi Megan.  Girlfriend, my name is Sybil, and I see you just used some hand sanitizer.  Naw, I’m not mad at you.  May I have a couple of drops of it too?  While we are sharing this hand sanitizer may we get a picture with you and oh, tickets to The View?”  I didn’t say it out loud but sure did say it in my head.

Oh, boy this post is getting long, I hope you’re still reading.  It’s long because we had a wonderful evening talking to some amazing people.  Meeting a couple of Medal of Honor recipients and their families was amazing.  We met Jack Rapke, one of the Executive Producers.  Super cool guy and didn’t hesitate to take this photo with us and even listened to me ramble.

Head over and catch Medal Of Honor on Netflix.  We don’t always hear the stories of our brave men and women who sacrifice their lives for us.  On this night it reminded me of a lot.  And with that, I thank all of our brave men and women who serve. I also want to say thank you to my very own sailor.  Thank you for your service, thank you for being my plus one and thank you for always being my #1 cheerleader.

 

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