O'FALLON, Ill. — Cat Vandament turns the corner to her own backyard with her eyes shielded, blocking her from seeing a surprise, months in the making.
"My day started like a normal Wednesday, and then my doorbell rang," Vandament said with a laugh.
Her friend Jessica Manfre, a fellow military spouse, has been plotting against Jessica with the best of intentions.
"You started off the morning by kidnapping your friend?" we asked her.
"I absolutely did," Manfre responds, adding "And kicking her out of her house."
With the help of an online home renovation series, Moving with the Military, Jessica and a team transformed the Vandaments' backyard. There's a wooden pergola at the center, flanked by two turquoise picnic tables, each decked out with new place settings.
"Oh my gosh, there are two tables now!" Vandament exclaims during the big reveal.
One she already owned; the other was made to match.
Following an online trend, Jessica's been inviting neighbors and friends around a turquoise table every Friday night -- weather permitting.
But her "turquoise table nights" have grown so big, they ran out of space, and they needed an upgrade.
"On any given Friday night, we have probably 15 to 30 people here including their kids," Vandament said. "We have a great big backyard, but we just did not have enough space to have everyone sit."
Vandament and Manfre met in Washington DC through their roles as military spouses. They are the 2019 Armed Forces Insurance Scott Air Force Base Spouse of the Year and the AFI Coast Guard Spouse of the Year, respectively.
But when Manfre's husband was relocated, they realized they'd be neighbors too.
"Here's the thing, as military spouses, we pick up and move. That's just part of our life," Manfre said. "I moved here, and — within three days — I was at one of her picnic tables."
The gift comes at an interesting time, during 48-hours of increasing tension between the US and Iran. The significance is not lost on Vandament.
"We don't know what to expect from day to day," Vandament said. "None of us do, whether you are in the military family or not. To have this little bit of joy in the middle of a lot of chaos is refreshing."
As Cat looks around her backyard — "this is really awesome," she says to herself — she promises to relaunch turquoise table nights when the temperature rises, bringing along warm hearts and lots of laughter.
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