Acta Non Verba Tour Installment #1

[ED NOTE] No Caps thoughts or information in this post; no ICx Technologies related musings either - just USMMA and Life Approaching 50 thoughts in this article.

A nice relaxing day in scenic Long Island. I awoke before the crowd here in Room 316 at the Inn at Great Neck so I took a trip up to the Academy and down "memory lane" for an hour and a half so as not to raise the ire of my son (for whom today will be the last in a while where he can sleep in) and my wife, who also rarely gets the chance to do so. I got to the Campus at about 9AM and took a leisurely stroll around ending my walk up by the Chapel where Cindy and I were married 20 years ago (2/21/1988), then I stopped at the Academy's 9-11 memorial for a short stop, watching several local children using the outdoor pool down by the Waterfront. i then stopped by to say hello to Capt. Eric Wallischeck (Class of 1983) who is now the Asst. Superintendent for Strategic Planning. Eric had a busy day today, since he is the POC for the press release that announced the current Superintendent's Retirement. Eric and I were on the Offshore Sailing Team together and we caught up for a little over a half an hour before I headed back to the hotel.

I dutifully stopped at The Bagel Hut on Middle Neck Road in Great Neck and got us each two bagels and a drink. Nothing can beat freshly made (as in still hot!) New York Bagels, though we are now dyed in the wool very happy Northern Virginians as far as where we want to live. We enjoyed our breakfast and then decided to take a short drive out to Huntington and drive by our old house on Juniper Place, which we moved from in 1996 when we first came to NOVA. One of our old neighbors is still there and we saw them though were very distressed to learn their 26 yo son had contracted brain cancer and passed away in April. Once again I just can't really imagine how bad I would feel and how sad this whole thing is. The young man was a great person if anything that just makes it all hurt even more. We then bade them farewell and went to a brief get together at the Lacrosse Coach's house in Levittown for all the incoming plebes/freshman on the team.

The get together at the Lacrosse Coaches house was great. One of my classmates who had a son that graduated in 2007 and has a son in the Class of 2011 is running the Lacrosse Parents Club so we caught up for a few minutes. Chris met several of his new Classmates and they all seemed like great guys. After leaving there we had a great "last family supper" at Benihana's in Manhassett. Upon our return to the Inn at Great Neck, Cindy and I retired to our room and their is a gaggle of aspiring plebes/class of 2012 down in the lobby getting to know each other which is where our #1 son is. I expect tomorrow will bring another great day, though with a much earlier start since we have to have dropped him off by 0830 as they say in the military. All I can think about is the first time I took Chris to a football game - he was 4 and his Mother was working, it was a nice but cool fall day so rather than do our ritual breakfast at TK's in Huntington then home, we traveled from Huntington after breakfast to Kings Point and caught the first half of a Division III Football Game at the Academy - where did the years go? Acta Non Verba - I'm glad for all the good times the three of us have spent together over the last 18 years. It makes you really thankful for the good things in life, when you realize that for some folks the time you have to share with them is more limited than you might otherwise think. Well that's it for the "chick flick type of post" for today.