A Major Award

It's a Major Award!

-from A Christmas Story

So tonight I'm having dinner when Scott comes home from work, walks over to the table, and casually places a small, flat disc next to my plate. "What's this?" I ask. "An award," he says over his shoulder as he heads for the kitchen.

Scott earned an award! I jumped right up, kissed and congratulated him. He doesn't like to make a fuss; but I know this to be an old wound and pattern, so I hooted, "oh no, you're not getting away with that!" and pressed him eagerly for details. Turns out they hoodwinked him into attending a meeting this morning as a "seat filler"... only when he walked in there were about 100 people there, to which he thought, "well, this ain't right" (he's got an internal what's-wrong-with-this-picture radar). After some introductory remarks, he and three others were called by name and presented with medallions by the Air Force colonel in command of the project, for making "great strides" in its development. I told him how impressed I am with him and generally made all the fuss he deserved--he matters, and somebody noticed (which he realized for himself). The really cool part was that, while he insisted it wasn't as big a deal as I thought, he was smiling and clearly enjoying the attention. He's getting better that way; used to be he'd let a couple of days go buy before mentioning that he'd earned a spot award, and a week before telling me he'd received a raise! And if I showered him with attention, he'd get embarassed or angry.

So then he calls his parents to make some arrangements for tomorrow, and says not word one about it! Naturally I called them right back and told them, then handed the phone back so he could hear their congratulations (note to groupies: of course his mom used the "P" word!).

To celebrate I whipped up his favorite homemade ice cream, Ben & Jerry's sweet cream recipe with chopped up Reese's cups. Normally he helps me but I wanted him to feel treated, and he let me.

The medallion is pretty cool. It's pewter; one side has an eagle on a white starburst and the words "Presented by the Commander", and the other depicts JASSM on a background of four shades of blue enamel. They're a limited edition and Scott's is numbered 126.