PHSOSA (Pearl Harbor Submarine Officer Spouses Association) is a group of women who meet regularly to build friendships with other submarine related spouses. This was their kick off event, and we were to meet at the Banyan tree (This is THE banyan tree, apparently. (there are actually many banyan trees in Hawaii)). It’s on Ford Island where the USS Missouri and museums are. There is also base housing. You can see the enormity of the tree behind the cute welcome setup.
From the tree we walked to the admiral’s house. Apparently there is a lot of unique history that goes with the house. There was a farewell party at the house the night before the Pearl Harbor attack, and lots of people were still in their pajamas the next morning when the attack started. They used it as an early triage location on the day of the attack, and the rumor is it’s still haunted in the basement. They repurpose the basement into a haunted house in October.
Being the Admiral’s house, I am sure you can imagine it is the best of the best. It has this huge wrap around Lanai with a great view of the harbor. We had treats laid out for us, including Biscotti, mochi, lemon bars, and baklava. Funny enough, though, no coffee… but we did get starbucks gift cards.
Because of COVID, they were limiting numbers, and rotated us through this event in groups of about ten. They had tables set up in the “Garden” where we sat with our group while we ate and heard about some resources we have access to to help us be submarine spouses.
I took “group” pictures of the different sets of groups, and the idea is they’ll stitch them all together somehow… Why am I wearing my sunglasses??? Ugh!
They also had the dolphin store represented there. The submarine spirit animal is the Dolphin, and when a submariner gets qualified to do his job he gets pinned with dolphins. This store is located on base and hosts a ton of fun submarine related items.
All in all, I was a little underwhelmed by the event. I ended up sitting with a lot of post-serve CO (captain) wives who all seemed to know each other and had their own chatter and inside relations, they’ve all known each other for a while. It would’ve been nice to hang with a more relatable crowd. However, I did meet another subwife and had pictures of her husband’s boat coming in and out, so I was able to send them to her. I told her I wasn’t sure if she was as excited as I was to have those pictures but I’d definitely offer them anyway… and she said no I’m definitely still excited to have them! ALSO. Come to find out, her sister lives in STURBRIDGE, MA. Because obviously!! So I told her to tell her sister to say hi to my mom the next time she’s at Micknucks. Can’t get away, even in Hawaii.
I’m a little off-put by the group, if I’m being honest. Turns out their meetings are only during the week… I feel like that is very unwelcoming and unsupportive of spouses who have work (me, my friend, my other friend, my other friend…). I did have to pay dues to be apart of this group, so I’ll stick it out and attend what I can, but so far I’m preferring my KOSC crew on this side. I only happened to be able to attend this one because I’m in-between project work and watching training videos. …Which I definitely listened to on the car ride over and back…
We’ll see, trying to keep an open mind with everything.
Later that day, I went back over to that side of the island and brought my new CO’s wife dinner. I made BBQ chicken, and also brought a chicken pot pie for her to freeze, she’s juggling a two month old and two other kids while her husband is gone! It was a great chance to talk, she is one impressive woman. She graduated with her graduate degree in nursing and is becoming a nurse practitioner. She just had a baby two months ago, her third. Her husband is the captain of a submarine… and she’s planning on returning to work in January. She is in rare air as a captain’s wife that works. I enjoyed her company and her rambunctious, but well behaved all things considered, kids. I’m glad we were able to connect.
Trying to keep myself busy over here! I have heard from Brian 4-5 times via email, which is VERY surprising. It’s nice, but can be really emotional too. His emails are of a brevity I’m not used to in my communication with him. A lot of it is his limited time, and a lot of it is he’s limited on what he can say. We also haven’t really ever communicated via email, so it could just be the way he emails.
If you haven’t watched this SNL skit about love letters during war, you should.