A Big Week for Daddy

While Kathleen and Mommy and the next-Golby-to-be were cruising around Illinois, Daddy was having a pretty big week in Iraq. We thought that, even though this page is supposed to be about what it's like to grow up as a Golby, we'd take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to share a little bit about what the head of our household's doing.

On Monday Daddy took command of a company of about 170 soldiers. (I'm leaving out the details about which unit, since technically I'd need permission from his commander, and I'm not sure that it would matter to most our dear readers, anyway. Feel free to e-mail if you want the full scoop.) Thanks to the miracle of technology, we had photographs of the change of command ceremony by Monday evening. Here's Daddy taking the guidon from his battalion commander:


We're really, really proud of him!

The very next day was Daddy's birthday. His first full day of command AND his birthday. I don't think you get to enjoy your birthday very much when you've just taken command of a company... But Daddy reported that the First Sergeant and the training room made sure he had some pizza and cake, and that the birthday box we'd sent arrived in time. That might be all you can hope for when you're deployed on your birthday.

Even though Daddy couldn't celebrate much, we did some celebrating on his behalf while we were Illinois. We made his favorite kind of cake, and got the "other" Jim Golby and all the grandkids to pose with it:

We enjoyed the cake, but we'd have enjoyed it a whole lot more if Daddy had been with us!

And as if that weren't enough for one week, today is our fifth anniversary. Funny how deployment can seem so long, when it hardly seems possible that we've been married five years...

We love you and we miss you, Daddy! We can't wait for you to come home to your girls.