Friday night was the Farewell Dinner for General Via and his wife Linda and his two boys. It was a great night, a lot of presentations, well wishes, hugs, words of wisdom, laughter and tears. After a great dinner, there were two videos of photographs, one to Maria Carey's Hero, can't remember the other. They were both SO good and took you through his personal and military lives. Everyone was tearing up. Then they had a video of goodbye messages and they were little skits put on by different sections of the staff of 5th Signal Command. It was hilarious, so that lightened the mood for the presentations. Both the General and his wife spoke at the end, and again, more tears. They will be truly missed throughout the community.
The highlight of my evening was going to tell Mrs. Via goodbye and how much she has inspired me to be involved and a part of my community and to help those around me as she and others have helped me. She called me by name, and that's kind of a big thing to me because she literally meets hundreds of people. She told me that she had enjoyed working with me, and when I told her I would do my best to help take care of the families of Mannheim, she looked me dead in the eye and said, "You two (me and SB) take care of each other first and above all. That is what matters most. The rest just falls into place."
This is a photo I found online because I didn't get any Friday night. We will see them once more at the Change of Command ceremony, June 14.
0 comments:
Post a Comment