What a day we had. We started with a great egg and sausage breakfast Jeanine had made then we headed to Costco to stock up for the week. We came back to the “mansion”, dropped our stuff off, made sandwiches, and hit the road for a drive to Ft. Myer.
We had quite an experience trying to get in Ft. Myer. We went through 3 different gates, made at least 4 U-turns and ended up at the Visitor’s Center to fill out six applications to get in the gate. We all walked in, started filling out papers when Val, Rick and Flo showed their IDs and the guy says we didn’t have to fill out papers so we jumped in the car as now we are late to meet Carla and our CPT. We finally find the building and we all pile into a government van to be taken to the Tomb. For those of you that have never been in a government van, you gotta step up a giant step to get in. Well, none of this crew can barely walk so it was quite interesting trying to get in and out of the van.
We arrived at the Tomb and the CPT carried a Duffy for us and he is the Commander of the Guards. We all walk in and the guys start standing at attention officer in the house. First we met SFC Chelsea, the first female in over 100 years to be Lead Guard of the Sentinels. She is number 38th Guard Leader. We called the Sentinels in alpha order as they all work shifts and tomorrow we will do more. None of them knew we were coming and each one was so cool. One Sentinel had just came in from guarding the Tomb and we presented first thing. When he unfolded the quilt one of the other Sentinels said it has his name on it. Across the top of the quilt Flo had embroidered Land of the Free Because of the Brave. The Sentinels last name was Land – we had no idea we had done that.
One quilt went to a really tall Sentinel and it fit perfect but the best was a young Sentinel who had just come off the walk when the SFC said, “Let’s fool him.” When he walked in she asked the soldier what had happened out there and she put him out in front of us. His face went like scared, he stood at attention, and then she said, “Gail, what do you think.” That was my cue to come up and give him a quilt. You should have seen his face change and after he looked at it you could see the biggest smile. He whispered that I had almost made him cry. It was such a gift for our crew to be a part of the honor in that Tomb. You could feel the bond between them and they all shared in the joy of each receiving a quilt.
We all left and walked back to the van that we had to go airborne to try and get in. We arrived at our car and, did I tell you it is hotter than you can believe? It’s so humid here and the girls are always hot so the AC is blasting in the car. We took a ride around Ft. Myer and got to go the back roads. You know me, I am going to find the alleys and back roads and we did find the Caisson horses’ paddock and the stalls. We found a beautiful view of the city and ate sandwiches under a lone shade tree with the AC on.
Next we went to the Women’s Memorial so that I could get interviewed by Gwen Tolbart for Fox 5 DC News 2 different times. That was nervous stuff. We came back to the mansion after 6pm to a great meal, roast pork and for dessert Jeanine made Italian cookies. Boy, were they good. We fought over who got the most cookies and brownies then a rain storm came and out we went to the front porch to see just like kids. We just don’t get enough rain at home. We went into the Theater room to watch QOH on TV and see our quilts on TV.
Guess you could say we had a day of adventures and we even did a walking U-turn. Willene has finally said no wonder we do so many U-turns – you can’t figure any of these roads out. Rick was my copilot and as hard as you try, I swear we go the wrong way.
Stay tuned for the next few days adventures . . . . . .
God’s blessings,
Gail
PS: I also would ask our QOH family to send hugs to AnnMarie, Executive Director of United Us, who lost her dad a few days ago.
Flag at Tomb 
Ft. Myer View 
Carla our POC and
Cpt. Sammis
Crew With Tomb Quilt 
Entering Tomb
Cpt. Sammis Carrying Quilts
Alex Leaving Guard Change
of Duty Station
Alex, Just His Size Quilt 
Chad, Our First Sentinal 
Chad 
Cpt. of the Guard 
Gabriel, Photographer 
Kamaille Female Sentinel 
Look at Smile 
Land 
Land with his Quilt 
Myer 
Myer After He Knew
He Wasn’t in Trouble
Myer with His Quilt 
Samuel 
SFC Cgeksea Tomb Guard
Leader 38th and First
Female in 100 Years
Our Ride
Theater Room 
Ceremony on TV 
Crew in TV Room 
TV Interview 
Ginny’s Quilt 
Quilts on TV 
Italian Ricotta Cookies to Die For
Quilts of Honor 
I love reading Cousin Gail’s Quilts of Honor Blog. It’s like reading an American novel, always so proud of Gail, Flo, Miss Rita, Debbie, Jan, Carl And all the rest of the QOH family. Loved G’s interview
Be safe,
Xoxo from your Jersey Boys