Graduation at West Point

The first word that comes to my mind is AWESOME! I am not original and I am the first one to tell you this. But our time spent at West Point was awesome! John excitedly told Justin and me about how every time they visited the campus they learned something new, how every tradition or event has a history, the statues a story, even the cannons relate history. Justin and I, at one point, simultaneously expressed regret for not coming up there sooner for visits, with time to take the tour and see more sites. Speaking of sites, the vistas from West Point are incredible, magnificent, picturesque, without getting the Thesaurus!

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Our shared pride for JR rather goes without saying, but I said it anyway, telling him we were so honored to be there and that I was busting with pride. He thanked us for coming and I told him it was important for us to be there, for him and for ourselves. All citizens of the U.S. should make the pilgrimage to West Point or our other military academies, so see, hear, and feel the great history and strong sense of patriotism. He looked amazing in his dress uniform, grey jacket with white slacks, a maroon cummerbund tied to the side and a white belt which held his saber. And the white "covers" which they toss in the air after the ceremony and little children from the crowd are allowed to go pick up. The "cadets" place a small amount of money into the band of their hats for the kids, like a silver dollar or similar, traditionally. All is tradition!

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Robert Gates was the speaker yesterday and that was pretty spectacular, too. He gave a rousing speech, with some eyebrow raising thoughts not normally heard in a military setting, like "sometimes you will have to stand alone" and "question authority". I would like to reread the speech some time and revisit the context, but regardless, it was thrilling. The portion that received the greatest ovation was the part about taking care of our wounded warriors, which is something Justin and I have supported in the past, and will continue to do. The night before at a banquet John, Mona, and Allie attended, General Wm. Casey was the speaker and we would like to have heard that, too. We were resting in our hotel during that event, thankfully so.

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Once we arrived at our hotel from the Stewart/Newburgh Int'l. Airport, after arriving late and waiting without end for our luggage (probably offloaded by the pilots!), we checked into our room. It ended up being a smoking room, even though my paperwork indicated we wanted non-smoking. The manager took Justin to check out the room first, which was a great gesture, but we were stuck anyway. I had my little Lysol can along to spray surfaces and the manager had housekeeping bring us a bottle of Febreeze. The room was tolerable, with us catching only occasional wafts of old smoke. We were just sooo tired! Getting up at 3:30 a.m. after not sleeping the night before in anticipation of sleeping through the alarm....yeah, I was bushed!

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At one point, I got up off the bed to do something and OUCH!, my right knee locked up and I could not put any weight on it. Justin grabbed the desk chair and put it behind me so I could sit, and I was totally freaked out. Now what??? I worked the knee forth and back, rubbing on the place where a knee cap would be and eventually things seemed to settle into position again. Unbelievable! What was I going to do now, if I cannot walk? Besides the obvious complications, what about graduation? What about New York City? I could not even imagine getting in and out taxi's, could not imagine getting to the bathroom from the chair! With my mind busy making alternative plans for an injury, several ideas passed through my brain. I have one day after this trip to my next----how could I get an x-ray, injections, treatment, and cure in one day? Would not happen. Mona's sister works for an ortho doctor in Manty so that is an option, too. I am using utmost care not to over-extend the knee, which is what I think happened. Keeping in mind this is not the knee I injured in 2004, this really freaked me out. Perhaps a contact with my upstairs neighbor, Jessica, the physical therapist, might be in order....Mona has a torn meniscus and said my situation sounds like hers. She plays volleyball and other sports and told me she has braces to wear for every body part! And I get hurt getting out of bed!

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We walked miles and miles yesterday, climbed hills and steps all over the place and Justin was extremely kind and beneficial to me, lending me his arm and hand at every step. I thanked him for this at the end of the day, because he could have been so annoyed with me and was not openly so. We had a wonderful dinner with the Hackmann's all at a steak house next to their hotel, and then John and JR drove us to Beacon to catch the train. Another experience for Justin and me, to ride the train for about 1 1/2 hours to Grand Central Station. We were awed by the Station, Justin moreso, and we stood in the "center" taking it all in.

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After some nice police officers pointed out the door to the taxi stand, we purchased some sodas from a street vendor, and then hailed a cab. There was one waiting for us immediately and he took us for the wild ride (Lynn, remember the cab rides???) through the streets toward Times Square for our hotel. Only, there was a glitch----I had the wrong hotel! I thought we were at the Marriott Marquis, the Powell's favorite hotel, when, at registration, we were told we are registered at Marriott Courtyard on Times Square. As often as I looked at this paperwork, it never occurred to me it was two different places. Back to the taxi stand for another wild ride, 6 New York blocks or so to the other hotel. The lady at the first place told me they were fully booked or she would have gotten us in, very nice to me.

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The next hotel and another cab fare later, we are in our room. But, not our room for long. They are moving us today to a different room because this one was a king-sized bed for which they offered a rollaway, and they will move us today to a 2 double-bed room. I was just so weary, I did not care. For our trouble, though, they gave us complimentary breakfast all three days! Nice!

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Today our plans will include going to the Met Museum because it is supposed to be rainy. Tomorrow we will venture out on our favorite double-decker bus tour, and hopefully the weather will support our plans! Justin had only a winter weight cordoroy jacket to bring along and I told him to leave it behind, so we will look for a lightweight jacket for him while we are here. Perhaps Macy's has a sale or even Kohl's, which is just across the street from Macy's.

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Pictures will be posted as soon as I can from this weekend trip, so hang tight, and I will try to post words as often as I can. Let me just say again, we were incredibly honored to be there for JR yesterday at his graduation. Wow, he is a second lieutenant and people were saluting him!