Today is the day I planned to be unpacking my suitcase in Virginia Beach, hugging old friends and proudly scrawling my name on the sign-in sheet for tomorrow's start of the 2020 NMA Reunion.
This, we know, is not to be. When the severity of the pandemic became clear, NMA President Whitham solicited the views of the board of directors and made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 NMA reunion.
I hated it but knew it was the right thing to do. Many of our members could not participate in close-quarters work and socializing and make up an NMA reunion, five days of sitting together on the bandstand and in the lounge to play, laugh, lie, and remember.
Every year since 2008, I've posted online reunion coverage with shipmates around the world, a "Live-Blog" of daily photos, videos, commentary and slander. It's an exciting project that spreads reunion joy with the MUs who cannot attend the reunion in person.
Well, I can't control world events, but I can control my computer. So, tomorrow, Tuesday, June 16, and every day through Saturday, I'll post the Live-Blog coverage of a past reunion. Recent reunions, long-gone reunions--the good, the bad and the ugly will be on display. In a sense, every day will be an NMA reunion. Kinda, sorta.
Of course, we all understand that nothing can take the place of a real thing. But we're all doing the best we can right now, with our families, our jobs, our careers and communities. As veterans and active-duty sailors, we are not strangers to enduring rough seas and looking forward to brighter horizons.Boy, I'm missing you guys already.
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