Fleet Week!!!!

So it is Fleet Week here again in Portland, Oregon. Yep, the navy comes to town each year during our annual Portland Rose Festival (think cheesy parade, scarily unsafe carnival rides and a rubber ducky river race (don't ask)). Now what single woman doesn't love Fleet Week, I ask?!! :) And as if bumping into hunky uniformed sailors around town for a few days isn't heavenly enough, I've discovered the ultimate nirvana for the single woman: an event called "Meet the Fleet". More specifically, the officers only portion of the "Meet the Fleet". Yep, you heard me ... a ballroom FULL of hot naval officers in their dress whites!!! Yee-mother f'in-haaaaaaaaa, I say!!!

So a friend and I partook in this "officer's ball" on a Friday night a few years ago. And let me tell you, two hot* blondes** don't stand alone for long in a room full of navy men. Nope, sure don't. So we chatted with one who then grabbed a friend and before long we headed out with seven (yes, you read that correctly ... SEVEN) naval officers looking to be shown more of Portland by locals (now before you label me the hussy I may or may not be (grin) .... please note that there were a couple of women in that group of seven as well. It just seems that when word gets out that a local is willing to show folks the town, everyone wants in on it)

Anyhow, so that evening I chatted mostly with one officer who I'll call ... errr .... "Mark". VERY nice guy. AND stationed in Hawaii! (Woot!!! Honolulu trumps say Everett, WA on the list of places more interesting to visit, wouldn't ya say?! :)) He wanted to see me the next day but because my friend and I had already accepted an invitation to attend a party that the Canadian sailors were throwing, I agreed to see him on Sunday. (as an aside ... let me tell you that those Canucks can parrrrrr-tayyyy. Plus they have beer. On tap. On the ship. You just don't see that on the American ships. But I digress).

Dinner with Mark on Sunday then the Fleet left Monday. They don't even make it out to open water before he's calling me. He adores me, wants to see me again, phones and emails all week, thinks I should come to Hawaii (yeah baby) and/or meet halfway in Las Vegas (who doesn't love Vegas??! :)), blah, blah, blah. Sounds great, right?! I've got this cute, sweet, funny, gainfully employed (always a good thing..lol) man in hot navy uniform who adores me and can't wait to get to know me better. This is awesome, right? Does it seem that way to you? It does, right?! Yeah, well ... TELL THAT TO HIS WIFE!!!!!!!!!!!! Whom I found out about when she called me after finding my phone number in his phone. Sigh.

Damn Mark. Damn US navy officers. Damn Fleet Week! So now Fleet Week has forever been tainted. Unless .... perhaps ... hmmmm .... I wonder if those crazy partying Canucks are back in town....


*without seeeing a picture of me, who are you to argue with me this point, eh? (heh heh)
** or this one! ;)