It’s astounding how much can happen in less than two weeks. After leaving Charleston, I drove straight up I-95 to the Hudson Valley area to visit my brother and his wife for a few days. For the most part, the goal was to relax and chill while I was there. At five months pregnant, Amanda isn’t exactly up for being out and about the entire weekend after working all week. However, we did have a couple fun events on the agenda. First up was Rock of Ages on Friday night. I caught the show back in October when I was in New York for a comic book convention, however I got tickets through the lottery, meaning they were very cheap but offered a limited view of the stage. This time around I ordered the tickets ahead of time, getting us seats in the center of the mezzanine, three rows from the front. While the tickets were more expensive than the lottery tickets, it was definitely worth the expense. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the first time around by sitting in seats with an obstructed view.

The other event planned for the weekend was West Point’s last home game of the season, against the Air Force Academy. Football is a sport that wasn’t offered at my high school and wasn’t watched by my family, so I missed out on that particular American past-time. As an adult, though, I’ve watched enough to at least understand the rules and recognize when something exciting happens. Even so, I was very excited for the game. Since Jason and Amanda live on post, we were able to avoid the nightmare of parking by just walking to a shuttle stop and hopping on. We got there a little later than intended, the result of our own laziness, but luckily made it in time to watch the Black Knights, West Point’s parachute team, drop in before the game started.

The rest of my time at West Point was spent mostly just relaxing and hanging out. On Wednesday I finally drove the last 5 hours home. Since my arrival I’ve been focused on getting settled in and staying on top of my schoolwork. With less than 4 weeks left, my main concern is ensuring I finish both classes with a B or better (though I’d obviously prefer an A in each) so I can get my degree and finally be done with it.