YWW

Every year each class at the academy gets a weekend to celebrate. Last year was Plebe Parent Weekend, this year was Yearling Winter Weekend- a big dinner/dance weekend for everyone to bring dates to and socialize with people from the outside (since 4 years here tends to make one very socially awkward otherwise).

At first, just for someone to bring, I had invited my ex-girlfriend to be my date for the event since she is already out here and it would be much cheaper. After a couple of months of neither of us saying anything, I had decided that I really didn't want to bring her and that seemed okay because she hadn't said anything about it. In fact I was toying with the idea of spending the money to invite someone from home, a girl I had liked in high school and had recently gotten back in contact with. Then one day, out of the blue, the dance came up while I was talking to my ex. She ended up inviting some of her friends and I was stuck trying to find dates for them all. Didn't work. Trying to find dates for this kind of thing that late in the game was impossible. Finally I gave up and just asked her if I could take someone else. I spent the money and invited Emma Nielson, the other girl I had been thinking about taking.

There were many reasons not to invite Emma. One was the timing; I'm getting ready to go on a mission and after that I have two more years of academy life (most likely) so it wasn't the most ideal time to get into a new relationship. Plus there was the thing with inviting Andrea. While I feel bad about that, the timing could prove problematic, and it was expensive it was entirely worth it. We had a wonderful time! But we never really did anything.

Friday night we watched a movie, ate dinner, watched a movie and went to bed.

Saturday we drove. A lot. We got in the car (borrowed from a gracious firstie whom I still have yet to meet in person) and just drove and talked. After a while we stopped to eat and then drove to a dunkin' doughnuts for hot chocolate. We just talked, about everything. It was a very bizarre feeling to be sitting in a doughnut shop in New York talking to the girl that had caused so much angst in high school- and we even talked about that. After hot chocolate we had to go gas up. We had gone through an entire tank of gas! We decided to hit the mall (at this point, though it was great to just talk, I was feeling bad for not actually doing anything). When we got to the mall though, we ended up just walking around the mall, talking again. We didn't go see a movie like we planned, or any of the other events I had planned for us to potentially do that day but it was ok, we had more fun this way.

After the mall we went back to the point. She got ready for the dance and I sat and talked to her while she did her hair. When it was time, I went and got ready. We almost didn't plan enough time for her and we got into a time crunch looking for an iron for her dress. The solution? Bring her to the barracks and borrow an iron from my neighbors. In the mad dash to make it to the mess hall on time her stuff ended up scattered around my room. We went to the dinner and the dance and came back to my room to gather her stuff and go. Time passed as we were talking to my roommate and suddenly it was taps. After taps they always come around and check to make sure we are in our rooms. Unfortunately, they don't like finding a girl in your room gathering her stuff. Luckily, when the situation was explained I ended up with virtually no punishment.

I took her back to my sponsor's house (where she was staying) and we sat on the couch cuddling and talking until 6:30 in the morning when we saw the time. Getting up for church the next morning was fun!

After church we were a little slower getting on the road than planned and she would not have made her flight if we used the trains and subways so I ended up just driving her to JFK. I can now say I've driven in New York City. In someone else's car. Wouldn't suggest it, but it worked out fine. The drivers here aren't as bad people seem to expect.

It was a wonderful weekend. The money side of it worked easier than expected and we had an amazing time, in spite of not really doing anything. It was all worth it. Much more than worth it.