Commander's Time

Funky 43ers,

If you weren’t at the Post on Friday, you were missed. We had the fish fry, and we had a funk band called The Fantasticals. There were a lot of registrations, and we were expecting 80-100 people. The weather reduced the actual attendance significantly, but the number of people who have written saying that they wanted to be there or that they saw the fun pictures was also very encouraging. I hope to do this event again.

2nd Vice Commander Karl Risinger stepped up with the cooking after we lost our guest chef. Auxiliary Madam President Melissa Card pulled the assist with food shopping AND leading the décor efforts. Nick Papadakis booked and took care of the band.

Some of our guests were new Sons members that Commander Jackman had just inducted. This was such a great group that pulled together and weathered….the weather for a really fun night.

As always, there are lessons here. We started with expectations, and the storm ruined those, but we improvised, adapted, and overcame to make the best of the scenario that we found ourselves in.

Everything was going great until sometime around 10:30, when the power went out. We pivoted once again and banded together to help the band break down and load up their cars, and then we cleaned up the kitchen as much as we could via candlelight.

The challenges at the Post usually inspire me to come up with solutions, and those solutions usually run into other challenges until the motivational power runs out. Now, the trick will be to find options in less-than-ideal situations and find moments of light to illuminate what’s right.

The FRYday Funk event was a powerful moment of light. I’m refueled from witnessing the teamwork on display to make the event happen. I’ve renewed my why by connecting with Legion Family and friends in such a fun way.

Like I said, if you weren’t there, you were missed, but I think that we will do this all again, and we’ll consult the meteorologist in charge to remove detractions from maximum awesome. No matter what, we will improvise, adapt and overcome whatever gets in the way. That is Mission: Funky 43.