Little Girl's Saga,

or Why i'm tempted to declare war on the school board. 

Back in November, Little Girl came to us and said she wanted to join the Louisiana Army National Guard.  She would be going for basic military training and EMT training and would have her college paid for by the military.  In exchange, she promises them one weekend a month and two weeks every summer, and to be ready to be called up in emergencies, which in Louisiana usually means during hurricanes.

We agreed and had to give her permission to sign up, because she was still only 17.   

Because of the way the dates worked out, in order to secure her the training she wanted as a medic (since she wants to get her nursing degree when she does go to college, already being a medic would serve her well) and get her sign-up bonus, she had to agree to leave for basic on May 17, the day before her high school graduation.

She worked hard in school, trained hard on her training weekends and was so close to being able to pass her PTs that she's certain of passing by the end of boot.

The big day finally came this past Tuesday, and i kissed her good-bye and Sweetie drove her out to the local recruiting and training base to ship out.

A couple of hours later, she called him to come pick her up.

It turned out that, even though she had passed all of her classes with a higher than 4.0  GPA because of her honors and AP classes, had her final report card, and her transcript was printed, the school board hadn't printed her graduation date on the transcript, so she couldn't ship out.

She went to the school to beg them to get someone to reprint the transcript with the graduation date on it.  They can't.  There's only one person in the district who is allowed to push the button to print that on a transcript, and that person couldn't be contacted.

On Wednesday, Sweetie again took her to ship out, because her sergeants were certain they would be able to get it all straight.  Once again, he had to go pick her up.

That's when Sweetie got mad enough about the situation to call someone he used to work with.  She happens to be the daughter of the school board superintendent.

Once he told her what the problem was, and that a military envoy was coming to the school board office to try to get help, she put in a call to her father.  The superintendent himself went out to meet with the military envoy and make absolutely certain all the paperwork was straightened out.

Wednesday was also the day of her graduation.  Because she hadn't shipped out on Tuesday, she was actually able to go and walk in the ceremony.  Because we had expected her to be gone and not to be at the ceremony, she had given away all of her tickets and all of us had to work, so no member of the family was able to attend.  It was very upsetting to me.  If she hadn't been able to be at the ceremony, that would have been one thing.  Since they messed her up and she was in town and could go, i really wanted to be there.  Having to work that night was agonizing.

Thursday morning, i drove Little Girl to the base, kissed her, and asked her to send me a one word text when she knew for certain if she were "going" or "not".  About an hour later, i received the word, "Going."

Late Thursday night, she texted that her flights went well and she'd arrived at the Military Welcome Center in Oklahoma, and that she would transfer to Ft. Sill early Friday morning.  She said she'd send us her address as soon as she was able.

Two days late and a bit worn from bureaucratic inefficiency, Little Girl is officially at boot camp.

Today is:

All Wright Housewalk -- Oak Park, IL, US (formerly called Wright Plus, The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust’s annual house walk features rare interior tours of privately owned homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries in the historic community of Oak Park)

American Red Cross Founder's Day -- established by Clara Barton on this

Anastenarides Feast -- Greece (feast to St. Constantine and St. Helen)

Armed Forces Day -- US (honoring those currently serving in the US military)

Bark in the Park -- Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, US (a fundraiser sponsored by The Anti-Cruelty Society, it's Chicago's Biggest Dog Party)
 
Battle of Las Piedras Day -- Uruguay

Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day 2015 -- unless you don't like them, then get to work electing better ones; if you know of a good one, take time today to thank her/him

Circassian Day of Mourning -- Circassians

Día de la Afrocolombianidad -- Columbia (Afro-Colombian Day; commemorates Columbia's abolition of slavery on this date in 1851)

Dia De Las Glorias Navales -- Chile (Navy Day)

Festival for Vevodus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of the dead, swamps, and volcanic movements, and sometimes regarded as the king of the Di Manes)

Full Flower Moon / Corn Planting Moon / Milk Moon
     Buddha Day/Vesak/Waisak  -- Bhuddist's Buddha Day; date varies with many celebrating tomorrow, and some areas already started the celebrations yesterday; sometimes called "Buddha's Birthday"
     Kasone Full Moon -- Myanmar
     Vesak Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
     Waisak/Vesak Festival -- Borobudur Temple, Java, Indonesia (on the day of the full moon, a stunning and spiritual celebration of Buddha's birthday)

Heavenly Sage Bao Sheng’s Birthday -- Taoism

Honvédelem Napja -- Hungary (Day of Patriots and Military)

Independence Day -- Montenegro

"I Need A Patch For That" Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, which notes that since everything else has a patch, why shouldn't you?

Iris Festival -- Greeneville, Tennessee, US (the community's major festival of the year, featuring artists, craftsmen, merchants, food vendors and entertainers from across the country; through tomorrow)

Lailat al-Bara'ah (Shab Barat) -- Islam (Night of Forgiveness, or sometimes Night of Records, a preparation for Ramadan; began at sunset yesterday, local custom dates may vary)

Lilies and Roses Day -- London, England (memorial of the death of Henry VI on this day in 1471; held at the Tower of London with representatives of Eton College and King's College, which he founded.)

Lord Buddha's Parinirvana -- Bhutan

National Learn To Swim Day -- US (with summer just around the corner, remember that drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages one to 14, so please, learn to swim and teach your kids!)

National Memo Day -- an internet holiday with no known origin, just take a memo

National Strawberries and Cream Day

National Waitstaff Day 

Passion Play Day -- the first Oberammergau, Germany, Passion Play was staged this date in 1634

Peddler's Village Strawberry Festival -- Lahaska, PA, US (strawberries in every form imaginable; through tomorrow)

Preakness Stakes-- Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, MD, US (140th annual; the second jewel in horseracing's Triple Crown)

Procession of the Golden Chariot and the Battle of Lumecon -- Mons, Belgium (a horse-drawn coach carrying the relics of St. Waudry circles the town to commemorate the delivery of Mons from plague in 1349, and in the afternoon, the Fraternity of St. George reenact the Battle, with St. George defeating the dragon)

Sister Maria Hummel Day -- birth anniversary of the Franciscan nun and artist

Skerpla Month begins -- Traditional Icelandic Calendar (Sharpness)

St. Constantine's Day (Greek Orthodox Church; Patron of Greece)

St. Eugene de Mazenod's Day (Patron of disfunctional families)

St. Helen's Day (Greek Orthodox Church; Patron of Greece)
     St. Helena Day -- St. Helena 

Wisconsin Dells Automotion -- Noah's Ark Waterpark, Wisconsin Dells, WI, US (showcase of more than 1,000 classic cars, music, food, and family fun; through tomorrow)

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development -- UN


Anniversary Today:

Humphrey Bogart marries Lauren Bacall, 1945


Birthdays Today:

Sarah Ramos, 1991
Ashlie Brillault, 1987
Lisa Edelstein, 1966
Judge Reinhold, 1957
Mr. T, 1952
Ian McEwan, 1948
Leo Sayer, 1948
Janet Dailey, 1944
Bobby Cox, 1941
Heinz Hollinger, 1939
Peggy Cass, 1924
Andrey Dmitriyevich Sakharov, 1921
Raymond Burr, 1917
Dennis Day, 1917
Harold Robbins, 1916
Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, 1909
Fats Waller, 1904
Armand Hammer, 1898
Glenn Hammond Curtiss, 1878
Elizabeth Gurney Fry, 1780
Alexander Pope, 1688
Albrecht Dürer, 1471


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Empire Strikes Back(Film), 1980
"Gypsy"(Musical), 1959
"Le Fils prodigue / The Prodigal Son(Prokofiev ballet, Op. 46), 1929
"Pagliacci"(Opera), 1892


Today in History:

Syracuse, Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily, 878
The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova, 1502
The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, 1674
The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by the empress Catherine I; it would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky, 1725
Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War, 1758
Slavery  is abolished in Colombia, South America, 1851
Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile, 1864
French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting, 1871
The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton, 1881
The Manchester Ship Canal in England is officially opened by Queen Victoria, 1894
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris, 1904
Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, 1927
Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, 1932
Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens, 1934
A Soviet station becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean, 1937
The National War Memorial in Canada is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, 1939
Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1946
The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition – a gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively know as the New York School, 1951
Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, 1972
Democratic Republic of Yemen and North Yemen agree to a unity, merging into Republic of Yemen, 1990
The Ethiopian Civil War ends, 1991
Suharto, Indonesian president of 32 years, resigns, 1998
The clipper Cutty Sark is badly damaged by fire in London, England, 2007
JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket, 2010
The most active volcano in Iceland, Grimsvotn, erupts and triggers 50 small earthquakes, 2011