Ambassador Seminar in DC
and also Obedience School for Wives
One day I received a random message on What’sApp, which I had downloaded for some reason because people told me everyone in Europe uses it to communicate. I quickly realized the message was from a wonderful friend I had met last year in Monaco, and then we saw them again in DC in January at the Inauguration. She told me that they were going on from DC to Mexico City to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and would pray specifically for us. She and her husband live in Mexico and have 4 kids. Months later, she sent me the “ticket” showing that they had had a Mass said for us at the shrine. One of the many examples of people reaching out to say they were praying for us, which we deeply appreciate and need. Father Rocky even told us he would say a memorare every day for Brian, and I told him I need one for me too, so he agreed to pray one for me every day as well!
Front page of the Chicago Tribune, no big deal. Then one day, Brian got the call that the Pope had given him “agrement” , clearing the way for his nomination to proceed. The girls and I stopped at the grocery store after school to pick up celebration supplies. One more hurdle surmounted! (As it happened, Brian’s flight from DC was delayed until super late that night so we never popped the champagne, sadly.)
We received an invitation to be a part of an ambassadorial seminar in DC during the last two weeks of March. This seemed like a good sign that Brian’s nomination was progressing, and the timing worked well for us, so we decided to go. We drove out with just the girls and spent two weeks living in hotels and attending “school”. It lined up perfectly with Sam’s trip to Rome with his high school, and Ben stayed with cousins the first week and then flew out to join us for the second week because it was his spring break.
My wonderful sister-in-law Meg was a huge help, taking the girls sightseeing every day that I went to the seminar with Brian. And then on the days when I didn’t have to go, the kids and I walked around DC and saw more things. The National History Museum, the Spy Museum, the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, etc. We were also able to spend the weekend in between staying with Paul and Meg and their kids, enjoying meals and long conversations and non-stop playing for the cousins.
The seminar itself was incredibly interesting. We learned lots of details about how everything would work at the embassy and our residence, from protocol, to safety and security, to how to deal with the press, to medical care at post. We also made friends with the other ambassador nominees and their wives, and were able to trade tips and information. The future ambassador to Italy had sailed his yacht to DC and invited all of us on one night for a party. We could get used to this!
