Stephanie Howell

ten years ago this past spring i was smiling because i had a really cute boyfriend who happened to look good in a uniform.

this was his graduation day. i could have NEVER guessed that I’d be visiting 10 1/2 years later and that we’d have four children and that we would have been through all we’ve been through.

going back was a little surreal.

i really didn’t take many pictures and i am KICKING myself for that. but i was too busy laughing. and talking. talking so much i’m hoarse today. but i would have loved to have a snapshot of jimmy talking to all of his old football team mates. oh well. 🙂

friday night was the class dinner and j and i went without the girls. it was SO fun to dress up.

seeing all those boys (who are now men–but i can still see the boy in them) was incredible.

they are all just as handsome…even more handsome,actually.they are happy. and successful. and handsome. and most of them are daddies and husbands. they have been through deployments and some of them have lost their friends. they have led men into war,flown helicopters,run corporations.

they drink scotch instead of beer, they are calmer and more settled, more world-weary…but the laughter,the inside jokes, the fact that they love being together..those things are the same.

they are the best of the best.

i got to see wives that i’ve known since we were all just girlfriends,and i was able to “meet” wives that i feel like i’ve known forever, even though it’s just been through a computer screen. i got to meet this girl and it was the highlight of my entire weekend. she’s smart,funny,beautiful,and snarky all rolled into one. my kind of girl.

saturday was the football game. we stayed on post with my best friend sarah. you’ve probably heard me talk about sarah over the years. we have been friends since sophia and harper were one. we’ve been through the scariest deployment possible, we got pregnant around the same time and had babies three weeks apart. she is the friend of my heart that i miss SO much. being 3 hours from her this year is a huge gift.

please note that we were accidental twinners. or “sister wives” as jimmy calls us when nick is gone.hahaha!

her husband is in saudi arabia for the year and there was a huge Nick-shaped-hole this weekend. but we thought of him and talked about him nonstop.

first up was the mandatory bloody mary (to go in a coffee cup of course)

then we got the girls into their cheerleader outfits:

and the babies into their t-shirts (they had a sitter for the game but they still had to show army spirit!)

and we were off! we walked to the game and watched the black knights lose..boooo. 🙁

we might have lost, but at least we got to see lots of people we love and introduce them to the girls. you should have seen people’s faces when they found out j had four girls.HAHAH!

we went to get the babies and then we walked to a tailgate. you walk everywhere on west point…i would LOVE to live there. it’s an amazingly beautiful place.

man. i had no idea all those years ago what an honor it truly was to go to west point. i didn’t even really know what it meant. when i met jimmy i had NO idea that wp was the army service academy. i didn’t even know where it was. (it’s in new york- about an hour from nyc-for those of you who don’t know either).

but now…especially when we go back to visit…i’m really humbled by the magnitude of what it means to be a west point graduate. it’s awe-inspiring.

they are the best of the best. they were then, they are now. they always will be.

happy tuesday,y’all.xoxo