See you later

  "Alright..." I was unsure how to do this as we approached the building.  We had been downtown eating cupcakes.  All my goodbyes had been said over the past 2 days and now the final one had come.  My Ensign in crime, Derek, that I spent nearly every day all day with all summer. 

  "See you in December," he said and he just strolled away toward the door of the enormous Sampson Hall. He was referring to my planned road trip I want to do during my school's winter break to see a few friends on the east coast which he is desperately trying to persuade me to go several hours out of my way to Pensacola where he will be for Aviation training. 

  "See you when you come visit south Florida," I replied and continued walking down the cobblestone path toward the parking lot.  And that was it.  My time at the USNA ended, I got in my car and drove home.  Oddly, it felt right.

  I have forever been a creature of comfort.  This summer I needed to come to Maryland. Period. The past two years I have been trying to make Tampa my comfort zone unsuccessfully.  As hard as you try, some things are just not meant to be and you often find out in the most difficult ways.  I called the IPO director out of sheer desperation, feeling at that point if I did not get back to Maryland I may actually die. 

  When I showed up at the USNA I was so out of place.  Clueless about the military and what goes on inside the gates, I must have looked like a fish out of water.  But as the saying goes: fake it till you make it, and I did just that for a few weeks.  It's amazing how awkward I can be around certain people and in particularly situations (my college roommates know this to a tee).  Yet there have been a handful of people and a handful of situations in my life that I have been so incredibly drawn to and able to thrive in that make all the difference. This summer was the perfect example.  

  I met the best group of people. Yes, my director was a micromanaging douche bag. And yes, there was an employee that hated me for reasons I never knew. And an Ensign who turned out to be the laziest piece of sh*t I've ever met. These are facts. But even these people a little piece of me still loves. Yes, love. Because of the sheer force of goodness and wholesomeness within the other employees at the IPO.  Julia Beth in her gentle and kind ways taught me everything I know about International Programing. Gary taught me the meaning of life as he knows it. Chuck introduced me to every person he knows at the Academy. Stephanie was my daily dose of sunshine and happiness. LeeAnn earned my respect by the way she tolerates the director. I love Yaya's attitude and spunk. And the TADs helped me keep my sanity by making me laugh so hard my stomach hurt.  And each and every person I met outside of the IPO welcomed me with open arms and a smile on their face.  They were willing to teach, help, and provide whatever they could to me. 

  Monday Julia Beth organized the office to take me out to lunch.  Only a few people could attend but I was grateful nonetheless.  The director himself came.  Overall, he must have told me 5 times how much the office is going to miss me and how thankful they were to have me.  Knowing my director, it is for selfish reasons that he will miss me but nevertheless I appreciated his attempt at a kind statement.  Monday after word Gary took the TADs and I out for a happy hour.  Both Gary and Buddy's wife joined us and we joked that we were until staying until 2am, not a second later. Well, we almost did make it to that point I'm proud to say! It was the perfect evening, I laughed nonstop, got more advice someone I admire greatly, and got to spend more time with the friends I've made this summer.

  And then yesterday I did some more work for Julia Beth as usual.  Buddy, Derek and I goofed off excessively in our tiny office, I think all of us knowing that the summer was ending.  Derek is leaving Friday and Buddy in a few weeks.  I did my final goodbyes to every one in the office, though for one of the first times leaving somewhere it truly felt like "see you later."  Then, as I was fully preparing myself to say goodbye to the guys they announced "We're getting cupcakes."  This is why we're friends.

  Cupcakes turned into a trip to CVS which turned into a trip to a jewelry store which turned into hanging out at Buddy's with his wife.   It certainly felt like a situation where we kept looking at each other and silently knowing one of us would have to break off eventually, but thinking please don't do it just yet.  But finally, I had to.  Because I know this won't be our ending.  I've moved a lot in my life, and started and ended a lot of friendships. I think I have a pretty good eye for the type of people who might stick around, and those you'll fall out of touch with.  I know that the people from the IPO will be in my life for many years to come.

  The IPO gave me a chance. I learned, I laughed, I tried, I succeeded, I failed, I gained so much.  I will miss the people, I will miss the beauty of the yard, I will miss downtown Annapolis. It boosted my confidence, brought me back to MD for 3 months and gave me the inspiration I need to enter the next phase of my life.  I will FOREVER be grateful.

The Colonel

Gary is the associate director of the IPO.  A retired Marine, he spent many years as a Foreign Area Officer in Thailand with his wife and young son.  Following that he spent most of his career in various countries in Africa and then a few places in the U.S. Four years ago he came to the USNA as a company commander and then transitioned to the IPO a year ago.  To appreciate Gary, one must have a witty sense of humor first and foremost, as he is constantly firing off one-liners and hilariously twisted statements.  He is also the type of person whose passion for helping young people runs through his blood. He comes off as a brute Marine, but after a few minutes with him you realize he has a side you would never expect in which he so genuinely cares for those he likes (and even those he hates, a trait I have the upmost admiration for).  The thoughts he shared with the young officers and I in the office and over happy hours will undoubtedly stick with me for many years to come.  Among my favorites were:

1. Every topic is best discussed over a cold, frothy beverage with high alcohol content.

2. When traveling in Cambodia, always hire a prostitute as your protection.  Prostitutes have connections every where and no one wants to ruin their connect by hurting you.

3. Family is everything.  No matter what you do or where you go, if you have a happy spouse next to you everything is better (in fact he still refers to his wife as his bride).

4. Never add oil directly to a hot paper shredder (especially while leaning closely over it).

5. Avoid "fairy dust bull shit."  Be straight forward.

6. If you like furry puppies then that's your thing, as long as it makes you happy.

7. Only buy things that are unique.  Avoid the temptation to "nest" with generic, common, every day things.

8. Classic movies are the best movies.

9. The best things happen to you, like love, when you least expect it.

10. "Don't wake the whole town up if someone has flatulence in the middle of the night." i.e. make sure it's truly an emergency if you call someone in the middle of the night... the TADs had to learn this the difficult way.

11. Always care for those you lead.  Watch out for them and take care of them.

12. HAVE FUN.  Do whatever you want to do, need to do, and have to do but always have fun doing it.

The last of the days

  And so the time has come when the final Monday of my summer at the USNA is upon me.  On Friday I had my mentor sign my paperwork to be sent off to my graduate advisor.  As we totaled everything up, my final hours will be somewhere just over the 300 mark.  I only needed 65 for my 3-credit class.  "Oh my soul!" Julia Beth exclaimed when her calculator showed her the number.  God bless her heart, she is one of the kindest people I've ever met.  She is too good to be working for the asshole of a director who did a fine job ruining everyone's week.  "300! 300! Why didn't you take more time for yourself! 300! You spent too much time here! 300!"  She makes me laugh, but she also makes my heart melt because she cares too much about other people.  I explained to her that it didn't feel like 300 hours.  It felt like 3 hours.  Time has ZOOMED by in the minutes I spent learning, laughing, running around, meeting people, and feeling exhilarated and absorbed in everything international.
   I have seen 3 of the 18 international Plebes since their summer training began. The Kazakhstani had issues with his paperwork so I was able to talk with him briefly.  He was still smiling his goofy smile. I passed the boy from Singapore doing a PT run as I walked to my car after work one day.  "Yay John!" I yelled.  "Thank you miss!" he yelled back and gave me a thumbs up.  And I said hello and gave some quick words of encouragement in an unfortunate situation to one of the Gabonese Plebes.  He had mistakenly eaten pork, which is against his Muslim religion, and asked to have access to his personal belongs to cleanse himself.  Upon receiving his belongings, his detailers saw that he was in possession of an illegal narcotic which is commonly used in Gabon as a method of cleansing.  Fortunately our director handled the situation and he came to understand he could not have this.
   Otherwise things have been relatively calm.  I have completely turned over the orientation I planned for August when the semester exchange international cadets arrive to the 2nd LT.  I have a lot of pride in this for all the hard work I did and I so badly want to be a part of it, but I know he will do a phenomenal job.  Our first midshipmen studying abroad have departed.  They are at the Chilean Naval Academy.  I had the opportunity to dust off my Spanish with several phone calls to the CNA one afternoon when the boys were stranded at their hotel 3 hours after they were to be picked up.  Successfully, I was able to speak with someone in Spanish and sort out the logistics.  That was quite an accomplished feeling!

Humor

It's amazing what a little humor can do to your life.  In my case, a lot of humor.  If I had to pick a theme  this week at work it would be laughter.

  When I first arrived at the IPO I sat at Stephanie's desk for 2 weeks, the front most one in the main IPO office. She was on vacation for 2 weeks.  For another 2 weeks or so I sat at a tiny desk awkwardly placed in the corner of the office.  Finally, I was given my very own office (the Colonel's old office) with 2 enormous desks, a huge shelving unit and a laptop computer.  It was nice, but it was big, plain, and lonely.  A few days later the 2 Ensigns took over it.  As I've alluded to previously, my friendship with the one Ensign (oddly from my half sister's home town of Waco, TX) started great and then by the time we were knee deep in orientation turned sour.  However, he became frustrating to work with through several people's eyes, not solely my own, as his disinterest in international programs and helping international students strained the effort we needed from him.  Almost immediately after orientation he took leave, not even saying goodbye.  Luckily, around that time we were assigned a 2nd LT (same situation, only he chose to enter the Marine Corp instead of the Navy and the ranking is different).  With a nickname of Buddy, it's nearly impossible not to love this guy, who married his long-time girlfriend before starting to work for us (and is conveniently from where I go to grad school).
   The 3 of us get along like a well oiled machine.  Not only do we work well together, and accomplish a tremendous amount of tasks, but we can laugh until the paint dries. Our office has become unrecognizable from the way it was when I entered the first day.  We now have a mini-fridge, an American flag, Marine Corp posters, maps, a Sri Lankan flag, and other random memorabilia we dug out of the old IPO closet.  We disassembled the book shelf (an activity my micromanaging director did not approve of), and rearranged the desks.  The funniest part? We have to restore it to it's plain condition in less than 2 weeks for a new professor who is moving in.  I'll be gone though, so have fun guys!
   Two days ago, we spent an afternoon making up a huge story about the Ensign.  A fictional novel about his travels to Ibiza, marriage to a gypsy wife, and epic fight on the Eiffel Tower.  I can't remember the last time I was entertained by something this ridiculous.  But I couldn't remember the last time I had laughed that hard- my stomach ached, my eyes were soaked with tears, and I could barely breath.  We had to close the door we were laughing so loudly. Buddy even typed it up, and thank God because that time needed to be immortalized somehow.

Patriotism

  In these days I am hanging on with everything I have.  I have been interning at the IPO for 2 months and 2 days, with only 7 working days left.  I linger on every conversation with my co-workers, every laugh with my office mates, and every step through the yard.  I feel like I need to quickly gather up as many USNA pens, t-shirts, and memorabilia to take this place that has quickly formed a little spot in my heart with me.
  The Colonel has been out for a week and it doesn't feel the same.  My mentor is gone until Friday, and while this is the true test of my competence, I want her around to share what little time I have left.  I want the happy hours and lunch breaks with my office mates to last forever.  But things in the air are changing.  I have to start thinking about packing for Ft. Lauderdale, the next leg of my life.  Derek has his Detach Form in the office already, and I have begun to pass the orientation I laid the groundwork for to Buddy.  I want to scream NO! I'm just getting settled here, I've fallen head over heels in love with Annapolis, yet the drastic change that is upon me looms overhead.
  On 4th of July, watching the fireworks at the Lancaster Barnstormers game it hit me how much this place has come to mean to me.  Not because it's a world renowned institution, not because men in uniform are hot, and not because it looks good on my resume.  I've never considered myself a patriotic person, I wouldn't even say I've had much pride in my country.  In fact, I spent an entire semester and a summer trying to hide being an American while I was abroad, and my biggest pet-peeve is ethnocentrists.  I'm extremely focused on what makes other countries amazing, countries that I want to travel to and learn the languages of- that I sort of rid myself of the appreciation for my own country.
  But, as I watched the fireworks explode and listened to the yee-haw USA music play I thought about all the accidental 8:00AMs I've gotten caught in when the entire yard stops and salutes the flag.  I thought about the goosebumps I've gotten watching the Blue Angels twice this summer, and the knowledge I now know about the Navy.  Mostly, I thought about the guys I've gotten to know so well this summer, and the honorable duty they're serving.  And finally, I thought about a fantastic road trip I was planning with them for next summer when Buddy, a 2nd LT in the Marines said, "...if I'm not deployed."  I don't believe in wars, and I think some of our involvements abroad are unnecessary, an opinion I'm usually forced to keep to myself, but I said a quick thank you to whatever greater being is up there for allowing me to live in a privileged country and to have men like the ones I know who serve it.