Today, we celebrated the end of Mark's 20 year Naval Career. We all made it through the ceremony without shedding tears, but Mark and I came close as he asked permission to go ashore for the final time. The ceremony was filled with traditional Naval retirement pomp and circumstance to include the passing of the flag (Old Glory), speeches, and the reading of the Watch. The ceremony concluded with Mark being piped ashore with the words"IT1 United States Navy departing" followed by "military family departing." Wow! We are departing a rewarding and honorable season of life. I think I can speak on behalf of our entire family when I say, we are ready to start a new phase in our lives. However, we will always be proud of Mark's service to our country and ours as a military family. We will treasure the memories of far away lands and the blessing of fast and true friendship that comes from living with and depending on other military families. Thank you to all of our family and friends who have supported us as we made our way from duty station to duty station through the years. It is never easy to have family members far from home, but we have always known we are loved and that you understood the call to service. We look forward to making up for lost time and seeing you all more often!
Mark preparing to receive his awards.
Kids and I receiving our appreciation letters for our service to our country.
2 comments:
Congratuatons! This is Cathy in Middle TN. I think I told you that my husband is retired Air Force. And of course, our youngest babies have something special in common too! Congratulations on retirement and on your new home in TN! We look forward to meeting you!
Congrats Mark!! And thank you for your years of service. Good luck with the new job and we can't wait to come visit you in TN.
The Schaberg's
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