The one time the Kesslers threw a party in the military and Brandye (part 2)

Well, where do I begin? I guess I'll start with Brandye a little. Michael and I were getting settled in. We met all of our other neighbors. Next door to us was a very odd couple. He was the weird guy in school you never noticed and she was the weirdo theater, hippie chick. They were very nice and good neighbors though. Bran was diagonal from us. Next to her lived Patti the whore and her husband, dumb as a box of rocks. More on them later. Michael had met Bran and developed the same impression as I had. We started spending a lot of time together. I found out that she had been married about eight years. Her marriage was already struggling when I met her, but sending her husband off to Korea was the end. Her husband, Richard, was her best friend in high school. Bran was a cross between a punk and a skater chick. They were like two peas in a pod. They started dating and eventually got married. Richard chose a field that would keep him away from her most of the time. He is a linguist. After eight years and one child they finally drifted apart. At this most depressing time in her relationship she had beaten her life long enemy, her weight. She had just lost eighty pounds when I met her.

Once Bran discovered that she and Richard had just drifted apart she didn't know what to do. She sought the council of her mother and friends. She was horrified when her mother suggested that she wanted a divorce because she was receiving extra attention from other men because of her weight loss. Bran was just beside herself. So she tried talking things out with Richard, and focused on her son. Eventually she just let it go until he was to come home for a visit. In the meantime, we grew very close. We used to lay out on the driveway, about two in the morning, talking about everything. There were no two closer girlfriends then us.

When you are part of the military society it is extremely hard to get a job. Most potential employers don't want to hire you because they are afraid you'll be transferred to another base. They don't want to invest in you for fear of leaving. Most job opportunities on base are given to wives from different countries. They cannot function outside the base, so they are given preferential treatment . After an exhausting search I was finally able to get a job. I worked seven days a week, various hours each day in the commissary (grocery store). Michael was glad at first, but then it slowly began to consume us. I was a vendor stocker/receiver. I got paid by the case. It was a hard job, but helped us start to get out of debt. After several months of non-stop work and bill paying Michael and I decided to throw a bbq. Everyone in his lab had one except us, so what the hell right? Wrong.

Michael and I stocked up on food and were finally ready for a bbq. We invited the entire lab he worked with and their families. I also invited our three neighbors. We had four bbq grills in the back yard when we started grilling. Everyone was drinking and having a good time. I had to go to work for a couple of hours . I left and when I came back....Oh my God! The party had erupted into I don't know what. One guy was punching my hanging plant. Patti the whore was there offering to hold the dick of a married man from Michael's lab while he peed on our back yard wall. Bran came over and had met our good friend Jess. They were hanging on each other. I noticed that bran was wearing one of his shirts and Jess's t-shirt was on inside-out and backwards. I don't know where the hell Michael was. There was a big circle of intoxicated men rapping. So I did what anyone else would do. I grabbed some shots and I don't remember the rest. When we woke up in the morning. The bbq's still had meat on them. The house was trashed. There were people, trash, and beer everywhere.

I found out that Bran and Jess had done the deed. Here's what's weird. They actually fell in love. They continued dating and decided they wanted to be together. Brandye saw Richard told him she wanted a divorce. She told Jess she needed to be on her own for a bit. She packed up and moved home to MS.* She went to school to become a radiologist tech. She came back out to AZ and her and Jess ended up getting married. They are now stationed in Okinawa. They had a son together Braehm. The agreed to three years over there. They are half way done. They are hoping to come back to AZ when they are done. I can't wait.

When you go through something rough it always helps to have a friend. I don't know how good of friends we would of been under other circumstances, but I always held out my hand. I'm glad that our military life is over, but I wouldn't change it much.


* She left Cappo behind with me.