Transformed

That November, Megyn and Andrea attended their first Marine Corps ball, seeing their younger boyfriends in the dress blue uniforms for the first time. There was some serious swooning going on when they arrived in a limo and marched up to Megyn's doorstep...in step.

If there'd been any doubt at all in their minds, there was none after that night of pageantry, dining, and dancing. The most moving part of the evening was the table set aside for their fallen comrades. There was a table was draped in black with an unlit, black candle. There were two white hats the girls learned were called 'barracks covers' on the table. One had a design on it which the women learned was called a quatrefoil, an interwoven braid in the shape of a cross of figure eights. Only commissioned officers wore it while enlisted Marines wore the same cover without the quatrefoil.

In addition, there was a purple heart medal and two swords: one carried by commissioned officers called the Mameluke sword and another carried by non-commissioned officers. Lastly, there was a glass turned upside down. All combined it left both of them with their eyes filled with tears as they thought about those who'd died in Iraq and Afghanistan and all of the other wars in which Marines had fought.

Neither woman said it, but both realized that could happen to the men they'd fallen in love with, which made them even more appreciative of the ultimate sacrifices made on their behalf.

After a romantic song they all danced to, both men proposed to the women they loved as they got on one knee side by side and asked the women they loved to marry them.

Both proposals were met with shrieks of joy from Megyn and Andrea and loud "OORAHS" from their fellow Marines who knew what was going to happen.

When they married a year later, both Andrea and Megyn were 36 while Brent and Danny had turned 23. The summer after their junior year they both went to Quantico, Virginia, for six weeks of Marine OCS (officer candidates school) called "The Bulldog Program" then returned to finish their senior years. It was designed for Naval Academy midshipmen and NROTC cadets. Everyone else either went to two, six-week courses after their freshman and junior years or one ten-week course after their junior year or after having graduated from college.

After graduation, their beautiful wives assisted the new lieutenants pin on their gold bars and drove to Quantico with them three weeks later where Brent and Danny would attend The Basic School, a six-month course of learning infantry tactics and leadership skills regardless of their future jobs. Danny became an infantry officer and Brent went to flight school and was thrilled to be selected to fly the F-35.

While at flight school, an 18-month course, Megyn gave birth to their first child, a little boy they named Daniel Ross. A year later, Andrea had a baby girl they named Megyn Marie but called Maggie or Maggie Mae.

The four of them stayed close over the next 22 years as they watched their husbands climb the ladder before retiring as lieutenant colonels. Both couples had one other child, both girls, and all of them had done their best to get together at least once a year someone in the world.

Both Marines were at Headquarters Marine Corps when they retired, and their families were there with them at their retirement ceremony which included a magnificent parade done by Marines in dress blues.

"Can you believe this?" Andrea asked as they watched their husbands standing at attention during the ceremony as their retirement orders and end-of-tour awards were presented by a three-star general who officiated at the event.

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it?"

"Aren't you glad you listened to me way back when?" Andrea teased.

Megyn laughed, but it wasn't really funny, because were it not for the transformation Andrea had suggested, none of this, to include their children, would have happened. She stopped dressing quite so 'preppy' after their first child, but she continued it as much as she could for as long as possible as the looks her handsome husband still gave her made it so very worth it.

"I may be 58, but I'm still wearing a choker," Megyn told her lifelong friend.

"Yeah, and you still look great. I mean, who's that old and still wearing a size 6?" she said with feigned disdain.

Megyn laughed and laughed even harder when Andrea said, "Have I told you lately how much I hate you?"

"It's been awhile," she replied, which reminded Andrea of the song from back in the day.

Surrounded by their children, Megyn took her friend's hand, looked right at her and said, "I'm forever grateful. For everything."

Andrea squeezed her hand just as the families were asked to come and join their husbands who looked incredibly handsome in the uniform they'd proudly worn for most of their adult lives.

As Megyn stood beside her husband he whispered, "You look hot as hell."

"You, too, Colonel," she said as he broke the position of attention and hooked her pinky in his.