This morning we finished up the last of our scheduled projects, paid our bill, and spent a wonderful day in town playing tourist.
Although we have been kicking around here for 6 weeks now, the town had an entirely different feel today. For the last several weeks Annapolis has been a long list of projects and events. Today, we had nothing on our plates but to look around, and it felt great.
We spent the afternoon at the Naval Academy. What an impressive operation. I have heard of “commissioned” officers, but I really never understood what it meant. The Academy takes the best of American youth and spends 4 years not only giving them a great education, but also teaching them to be leaders in the Navy way. It reminded me of Brian’s headmaster at St. Mary’s when he told us that his most important job was to produce “men of character.” The buildings were very fine, but the kids where the real stars. Young, fit, smart, disciplined. Makes you proud to be American and hopeful for our future.
PS: If you don’t see the images in your email, go to the website.
To: Tullock Family
From: Sailing Vessel Echo. Longitude 72.27.58 North, Lattitude 38.19.93 West
What a great message Don. Thanks so much for looking at our blog and the beautiful thoughts. I wish we had known we had an “in” at the Acadamy.
Good luck to Kaitlyn. I’m proud of her too.
Jeff
To: The Commander and Crew of the Magnificent Vessel Echo
From: The Tullock Family at Latitude 42.605 North/Longitude 83.15 West (Troy, Michigan)
Jeff,
My name is Don. Your brother Jason has been a cherished friend of mine for 30 years. I have met your incredibly brilliant mother. Jason forwarded me “Annapolis Tourists”. My daughter Kaitlyn is in her second year at the United States Naval Academy. Kaitlyn, has always been incredibly happy and driven, she is so content to be among 4,000 other Young Americans who hold dear the same core values of patriotism, honor and integrity. In all aspects, Kaitlyn is thriving in that challenging environment.
In your travels, when you have a serene moment (while anchored in a beautiful harbor in the Bahamas sipping on an exotic beverage containing Rum perhaps), I know that you will appreciate a beautifully written “Short Story” about the Naval Academy entitled “Lessons from Memorial Hall”. Please type into internet search engine “Crazy Ramblings Thoughts: Lessons from Memorial Hall”. All 4,000 of the Midshipmen who attend the USNA reside together in the World’s Largest Dormitory “Bankcroft Hall”, in the center is the “Heart and Soul” of the Naval Academy- “Memorial Hall”. “Memorial Hall” is dedicated to the Graduates of the USNA who have lost their lives defending our nation (including 73 Medal of Honor Winners). The Naval Academy dates back to 1845. “Dignity does not consist in possessing Honors, but in deserving them”- Aristotle.
For what you have endured in life and to have so successfully fought to restore “Happiness”, please know that you have my eternal respect and admiration.
Fair Winds and Following Seas (and certainly the best of fortune) to the Courageous Crew of the Magnificent Vessel Echo.
Don
P.S. The next time the Echo sails to the Chesapeake Bay, please provide us with advance notice. Arrangements will be made for a “Very Special and always smiling Midshipman” to meet you dockside in Annapolis to furnish you with the directions to “Dockside Inn” where the world’s best “Tangerine Slush Margaritas” are served. Included in the envelope with directions, will be the funds to treat Jeff & Mary Pernick to those beverages, as a humble token of our admiration from the Tullock Family. Cheers!