Kay Hudson

I just did something I’ve been meaning to do for nearly a month:  I pledged $35 toward the $50,000 Laurie Kahn needs to finance the completion of her documentary film Love Between the Covers, part of the Popular Romance Project.  We were treated to a trailer for the film-in-progress at lunch at the RWA National Conference last month, and the audience loved what we saw.  The money is being raised through Kickstarter, a site I had never visited.  You can watch the trailer there.  Consider kicking in a few bucks.

I checked another item off my perpetual ToDo list this morning when I renewed my military ID card, a task that has ranged over the years from pleasant (when my late husband Jack and I used to drive down to the Coast Guard Station on Galveston Island) to aggravating.  This time it was reasonably painless, once I found the new phone number for the Ellington Field information line (no humans involved, just a recorded message) and got the schedule and new location.  I’m not sure I’ve ever found the ID card office in the same place twice.  Last time I spent fifteen minutes searching the far reaches of Ellington, a one-time Air Force Base now partially commercial and generally confusing.  The ID card office is now in a newer building (with a parking lot!!) outside the secure part of the base where the military retains a presence.  Its hours are technically 8 to 12, but they are prone to closing when they “reach capacity,” so I was happy to be the third person to sign in.  I was out with my new card by 9 AM, leaving a rapidly filling waiting room behind.

I’ve never actually been in the military myself.  My dad was in the Navy from shortly after Pearl Harbor until he was released several months after the end of the war.  I always thought he had the personality and ability to be a fine officer, but perhaps he didn’t like the regimentation.  At any rate, once he left active duty he seldom talked about it and never looked back.  Jack, on the other hand, joined the Army Air Corps at the age of seventeen, saw a few months of World War II from the ball turret of a B-17, and would have happily remained a career officer if the Army hadn’t reduced its forces after Korea.  He had the foresight to remain in the Army Reserves (and had some fun along the way, especially when we lived in Louisiana, where he enjoyed Cajun food with the Lafayette unit and helped a Colonel stationed in New Orleans accumulate artifacts for a museum) until he retired.  The medical benefits and annuity I inherited make any number of visits to renew my card (which I usually only have to do every four years) worthwhile.  In fact, I feel horribly ungrateful even mentioning it.  Thanks, Jack!

The Firebirds site launched on Monday.  We’re still on a bit of a shake-down cruise, but we’re setting up our author pages, organizing our posts, and welcoming visitors.  We’re even giving prizes to random commenters now and then, so please come by, meet the Firebirds, and say hello.