{"id":190,"date":"2017-07-12T22:26:43","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T04:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/?p=190"},"modified":"2017-07-12T22:26:43","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T04:26:43","slug":"samantha-l-lonely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/uncategorized\/samantha-l-lonely\/","title":{"rendered":"Samantha \u2013 L is for Lonely"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Induction Day at the Naval Academy is a production. It\u2019s specifically in-processing for midshipmen candidates. Their families and the incoming candidates have activities lined up that can keep them busy for the whole day. Samantha had prepared for it with her father\u2019s help. He had given her his copy of Reef Points<\/em> and, knowing it was updated annually, she had dutifully memorized everything anyway. She had studied everything she could find in the library and online. She knew where to go and what was going to happen, and she knew that when she walked into Alumni Hall there was no turning back.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The alarm went off at 4:00 am. Grumbling, I reached out to slap the beast that was interfering with my hard won sleep. I had tossed and turned ever since I went to bed, barely getting to sleep when the alarm began beeping. I forced my eyes open and climbed out of bed. I showered, luxuriating in the cold water as I came fully awake. I dressed in a pair of cutoff jean shorts, scruffy running shoes, and a t-shirt that said \u201cYou learn from mistakes. I learned a lot today.\u201d I had heard somewhere that you could show up for I-day nude but it probably wouldn\u2019t be a good idea.<\/p>\n

As I dried my hair, I looked myself over in the bathroom mirror. Here it was, the moment of truth. Was I really ready for this? I was excited, a little scared, but, yes, I was ready. The face in the mirror smiled back with grim determination.<\/p>\n

The family had a hurried breakfast. My eggs were tasteless and I had a hard time eating them because my stomach roiled, not from fear but excitement. As the clock ticked down, more than once Nelson objected loudly about having to get up so early, but Mom simply told him he could sleep in the car.<\/p>\n

We rolled out of the driveway at 5:00 and hit the interstate. Traffic was light until we reached Alexandria. Then it turned chaotic. On top of the \u201crush hour\u201d traffic, which was bad enough, not long after we crossed the Potomac, the traffic came to a complete stop. As the delay dragged out I could feel the anxiety building. I was supposed to check in by 10:00, and the margin was getting narrower and narrower. Dad began talking about driving on the shoulder to reach the next exit. Fortunately, before he did, Mom announced, \u201cTraffic is starting to move up ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

I could see some of the tension drain out of Dad\u2019s shoulders. We were moving again, albeit slowly. It took us fifteen more minutes to reach the scene of the accident. A semi was on its side on the southbound side, and the police had blocked all the lanes on that side but the inside one. I counted seven emergency vehicles. I commented, \u201cWhat a gapers\u2019 block. I bet that\u2019s breaking news, even for this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mom nodded. \u201cI hope no one was badly hurt.\u201d In a way that\u2019s how I\u2019ll always remember her, always concerned about others. It\u2019s true even now. Am I getting maudlin? It must because this day brings back so many memories.<\/p>\n

We arrived at Gate 8 of the Academy at 9:30 or should I say, 0930? By the time we reached Alumni Hall it was 9:45. On our way in Dad reminded me of what was happening. \u201cI\u2019m going to let you out at Alumni Hall. You know what to do. Then I\u2019m going to drop in on Willy \u2013 Admiral Moore \u2013 to let him know I\u2019m here and introduce the family \u2026 the rest of the family. He\u2019s expecting me. You\u2019re going to be busy for the next several hours, but we\u2019ll see you after the swearing in.\u201d<\/p>\n

I got out of the car, and they drove off. I watched them until they made a turn and disappeared behind a building. For a moment I felt more alone than I ever had in my life. My Mom and Dad had just driven off, leaving me by myself to face the biggest change in my life. Sure, I\u2019d see them one more time today, but the change would already be taking place.<\/p>\n

I looked up at the building in front of me and the young men and women straggling in line toward the entrance. Straggling? No they weren\u2019t. They were walking tall, and so would I. I straightened my back and strode purposefully forward to join them. It was show time!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Induction Day at the Naval Academy is a production. It\u2019s specifically in-processing for midshipmen candidates. Their families and the incoming candidates have activities lined up that can keep them busy for the whole day. Samantha had prepared for it with her father\u2019s help. He had given her his copy of Reef Points and, knowing it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSamantha \u2013 L is for Lonely - The Oath Still Stands<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/uncategorized\/samantha-l-lonely\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Samantha \u2013 L is for Lonely - The Oath Still Stands\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Induction Day at the Naval Academy is a production. 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It\u2019s specifically for in processing for midshipmen candidates. Their families and the incoming candidates have activities lined up that can keep them busy for the whole day. Samantha had prepared for it with her father\u2019s help. He had given her his\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":148,"url":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/uncategorized\/samantha-the-joke\/","url_meta":{"origin":190,"position":1},"title":"Samantha \u2013 The Joke","author":"gordonsavage@msn.com","date":"April 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The scare she had gotten, along with her counselor\u2019s questions, had Samantha thinking about backing out of her plan to play practical jokes on Ashworth. Was it worth the risk? Did he really deserve it? On the other hand would it do him any harm? She finally decided to go\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":210,"url":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/uncategorized\/samantha-weapons-training\/","url_meta":{"origin":190,"position":2},"title":"Samantha \u2013 Weapons Training","author":"gordonsavage@msn.com","date":"September 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Samantha has returned from her vacation and continues with her description of Plebe Summer. She had two roommates, Ashley Carr and Danielle Tennant. As the de facto room commander, she took a special interest in both of them. The first time at weapons training signaled a coming crisis. Let me\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":101,"url":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/uncategorized\/samantha-i-didnt-do-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":190,"position":3},"title":"Samantha \u2013 I Didn\u2019t Do It","author":"gordonsavage@msn.com","date":"March 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Originally posted on\u00a0February 20, 2017\u00a0by\u00a0Gordon Savage Samantha had had a good scare. She had also violated her curfew and she knew she was in real trouble. Instead of chewing her out on the way home, her father let her stew. By the time they pulled into the garage, she was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":138,"url":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/uncategorized\/samantha-broadcast-booth\/","url_meta":{"origin":190,"position":4},"title":"Samantha \u2013 The Broadcast Booth","author":"gordonsavage@msn.com","date":"April 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"After reconciling with her father, Samantha had a new target for her anger, Dr. Ashworth. He had been prejudiced against her even before he had blamed her for the graffiti. She decided to get even with him by playing pranks carefully crafted to leave no evidence that she had done\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":198,"url":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/uncategorized\/samantha-wilson\/","url_meta":{"origin":190,"position":5},"title":"Samantha \u2013 Wilson","author":"gordonsavage@msn.com","date":"August 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Samantha\u2019s plebe summer was a challenge from the start, but Lance Wilson had hit her stubborn button. She wasn\u2019t about to be beat down by a bully. She worked with everything she had to make sure he didn\u2019t have any excuse to put her down. Every time he criticized her,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gordonsavage.com\/sowhat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}