Dining Out in Norfolk

Brian and I have Jill to thank for making it to the "dining out" formal dinner last Friday for Brian's new command, the USS Nassau. (And for the photo, which was the only one we got all night, regrettably!)

And we're happy it was really dining "in" as it was pouring outside.



Otherwise, we knew what to expect since we'd been to our first dining out less than two years ago for the hospital command in Japan. We weren't sure if we should expect this one to be a little more traditional than one through a medical command. But it was about the same. Good thing, because my college roommate's husband, Don scared me a little when he described the gross grog he'd experienced, complete with candy bars floating in it--you may imagine what they represented. Our versions (both alcoholic and nonalcoholic) were fruity punches and only alluded to this tradition in that they were served in a child's potty, hopefully one that had never been used.

Spouses are usually not put on the spot to drink from the grog, which is a form of ceremonial public humiliation in jest (a sort of hazing, really, especially since rumor had it the nonalcoholic version tasted particularly nasty). So luckily, I enjoyed sips of table wine and port for the series of formal and informal toasts throughout the night, but Brian finally had to partake of the grog near the end of the evening. Mr. Vice (sort of the MC of the evening) summoned Brian by calling out "Doc!" as he went around the room and singled out the few who hadn't gathered around the grog yet. At least there was strength in numbers. Despite the "Captain Stubing" uniforms, as you can imagine, this is no Love Boat.