Promotion, part 1: The ceremony!

Well, I'm officially a Major Beach!  (Ha ha, hilarious, no, you aren't the first one to say that to me).

On the 30th, I had a ceremony where I promoted from Captain to Major, which was a LOOOOONG time coming.  Because it was over 8 years since I had pinned on Captain (I had a break in service), it feels very very strange to be a major.  I caught myself in the mirror today and thought, "who's playing dressup?"

Anyway, I'll be back next week with some great info, recipes, and tips on the kick-ass reception that I threw, but I thought I'd start with the ceremony and all the great things that happened there!

First, my special guests were my old boss (who presided over the ceremony), my parents, my sisters, my husband, my kids, and my two friends who pinned on my oak leaves (which my mother pointed out do NOT look like oak leaves from Indiana!)

Oak (?) leaves

Also I had some Army folks (my ROTC instructor, a college/ROTC classmate, and a fellow member from my battalion in Germany), lots of folks from the legal office on Joint Base Andrews, one (sob!) rep from OSI, the entire Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, lots of commanders and first sergeants and a ton of friends!  You can see, it was a packed house in the Appellate Courtroom that morning:

My favorite part of the ceremony, besides seeing all these people come out to help celebrate, was the fact that my sisters and I sang the National Anthem at the beginning.  We didn't record DURING the ceremony, but here's our rehearsal footage:

So, in a promotion, the presiding officer talks a lot about the person being promoted and why they are so awesome.  While my old boss was doing that, Avery decided to take advantage of his empty chair and come out and hang with me:

Discussing my awesomeness

Avery...not impressed

 Following that, some orders are read and then I get to choose people to pin on my oak leaves.  I chose my friends Gabe and Craig (both amazing guys who are really there for me), and Jon helped Avery pin my hat.

Next, my old boss gave me the officer's oath again, reaffirming my allegiance to the Constitution as a major in the United States Air Force.

And last, I got to make a speech.  I hate when people talk for a long time, but I had so many people to thank, from my family to my friends to my old Army buddies to my current influences.  Just amazing people I've had in my life that I was excited to share the day with.

And with that, and a quick singing of the Air Force song, it was over and it was time for the reception!  I worked super hard on all the party details and food, as did a LOT of people who helped me, so stay tuned for those details soon!

Caveat:  I JUST realized it's "Climbing" high into the sun, not "Flying" high into the sun.  Ha ha ha.  I'll learn one day!!