Shivering with an-tici-ppppation

first of all, I hope all of you mothers on my friends list, angua9, shellebelle93, queenriley, ciircee, heidi8, anneu53714 and themorningstarr had a great Mother's Day. For themorningstarr, it came right after her graduation. Muchos kudos to you, girl!

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I can't believe it. We are leaving for the States the day after tomorrow. I signed off an e-mail chat with dr_c with "See you on Thursday." I will see my twin, piperx next week, on Friday. A week after meeting her, I will have dinner with the amazing Murasaki99.

Oh, and there's the beautiful landscape. Yes.

Finally, blessed be Mapquest. So patient, as I consulted it time after time, hammering out routes and longer/shorter alternatives. You see, my husband will do all the driving, so I don't want to overstretch him. But then, he was a driver during his time in the army ...

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Let me explain: in Germany, all men have to serve a compulsory year or so in the army.
They can refuse as conscientious objectors; their service is then completed somewhere in the
Social Services: Red Cross, old people's homes, etc.
There is a "get-out-of-jail free"-card: if you're a third son, or if your father did not return from WW II,
you are exempt. Thomas' younger brother was exempt - Thomas is the second of three boys.

Thomas was no conscientious objector. In fact,
he shows a boy's delight in everything that goes "Boom". So he served his time in the army
- working mostly as a driver, ferrying people to and from hospital. In case you were wondering what he thinks of Iraq: He hates that war.

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Anybody recognised the movie that my "subject" refers to? Answers in red lipstick on a black stocking, please.
(There, now I've given it away ...)