The Final Countdown

And now for a Facebook stalker confession. For the past three years I have been admiring West Point's firstie classes and their girlfriends/fiancées. I have clicked through countless photo albums of:

• Picture perfect proposals...check!
• Brand new "cool jewels you got from your school" at Ring Weekend...check!
• Cards revealing the next big adventure at branch and post night...check and check!
• Gorgeous dresses at 100th Night...check!
• That first hug on the field of Michie Stadium amidst the joyous chaos of graduation day

Any (honest) plebe, yuk, or cow girlfriend will tell you they've done or are currently doing the same. This group of ladies all share a few uncommon experiences. We have all fallen in love with someone who recognizes and accepts a duty in life much greater than themselves. We have all felt the sinking feeling of another imminent goodbye. We have all over packed a month's worth of clothes for just one perfect weekend visit. We have all kept what feels like a never ending list of countdowns to the next big West Point event. The best part? These loyal and beautiful ladies have become some of my closest friends. Many say the tight knit, family-feel of military life is their saving grace. The shared joy of these friends in celebrating happy times can be felt with as much gusto as their support to get you through the tough ones. No one understands Army life better than your Army family.

Brad and I just spent 100th Night weekend with some of our West Point family at an adorably yellow farmhouse in the Catskills about an hour upstate. To sum up the success of our weekend, for the first time the comradery I just described really sunk in for me. There were many laughs, many toasts to the final countdown, and many favorite West Point stories shared. Throw in just a few awkward moments as we crammed 15 people into one average sized hot tub and I'd say we did 100th Night perfectly.

One more shared experience among these friends: we have all felt that our anticipated graduation date would never come. Well it is definitely coming now, full speed ahead! It is hard to believe that we have just one big event (the main event!) left to go. My photo albums are just about full to capacity with our own firstie year pictures that were only daydreams not too long ago.

Michie Stadium --- May 25, 2013 --- 87 days from today.

So looking forward to that first hug, Bradford.

Our home away from home

(Less than) 100 days to go!

Nearly newlyweds

Drum roll please...

Where the Witts will roam:

A: West Point, New York until Brad becomes a 2LT and I become a Mrs.

B: Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri (about 2 hours southwest of St. Louis, Missouri) for EBOLC (Engineer Basic Officer Leadership Course) from August 2013 to January 2014

C:  Fort Campbell, Kentucky (about 1 hour northwest of Nashville, Tennessee) for the next 2 to 3 years, or until the Army tells us where to go next!

Our future homes

Let the Army adventure begin!

Well, I've done it. I have finally succumbed to the typical (soon-to-be) Army wife method of sharing. The blog. As the clock struck midnight welcoming 2013 into our lives, looking into Brad's smiling eyes after our new year's kiss, I knew exactly what we both were feeling: this is our big year. Brad's graduation from West Point is nearly here, and we will vow to spend forever together shortly after. Our entrance into what we have dubbed "real Army life" as husband and wife is so close we can definitely feel it's intimidating thrill. There is so much about what is to come for us that I know we will love, but with so much to learn and adjust to there is definitely a hint (or perhaps a heap) of anxiety to be accounted for. Ready or not, here we go!  

In more immediate news and reasoning for getting this blog up and running, post night is upon us. For those of you unfamiliar with West Point and all of it's perplexing lingo, post night is an event for firsties (seniors) to be assigned their first duty station. We've submitted our top choices, and what's meant to be will be.

Thinking back to the end of November, you'll remember our excitement over Brad earning his #1 choice branch, engineers. We know we will be at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for about five months beginning late this summer for Brad's BOLC (Basic Officer Leadership Course), but what follows will be determined this Thursday. These assignments are based on each cadet's rank among his class for branching and among his branch for posting. Translation: each happy moment we are feeling now and will be feeling for years to come in our new home Brad has earned for us through an enormous deal of hard work the past four years.

To wrap up my first official blog, words cannot begin to express how blessed we are to be so strongly supported across so many miles. My move to New York after graduation now feels like a baby step, one that I'm so glad I took to prove to myself that love from friends and family spans all distances no matter what. I can now jump into this next big adventure with a steady heart and (the best part!) the hand of my new husband to hold on tight to through the scary stuff. Army life often seems like a foreign world to those not living in it, but I'm hoping this blog will help keep all of you up to date and informed as our journey unfolds.

Best wishes, and warm wishes as I'm watching the snow fall here, to each of you. I am looking forward to another post on Thursday with the big news!

"If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living." -Gail Sheehy