Well, it’s been about three years since I gave a life update. The last time I gave an update, we were relocating from Virginia to Ohio so that Dave could get his MS in nuclear engineering. And, of course, we were eagerly waiting for Fischer Homes to do something (anything) to complete our house.
A lot has obviously changed since then. To start, Dave graduated, and we no longer live in Ohio.
But let me rewind a bit and catch you up on the last 3 years.
House: Fischer did indeed eventually finish our house—and after our experience with Fischer Homes, we would never build with them again, even if they paid us to. However, once the dust settled from that debacle, we did really love the home we designed and especially loved the community it was in.
Community: Our community in Ohio was second to none. It’s hard to explain, but…we did life with our neighbors and became family. We spent holidays and special occasions with our neighbors and went on vacations together. We went on long walks and did our weekly grocery shopping together. We cooked meals together and watched reality TV together in the evenings. It was like living on the same street as my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and nieces and nephews. It was pretty magical, and I am so grateful for the experience.
Church: We became members at a great Reformed Presbyterian church, and I had the privilege of working with the youth group during our time there. I was the junior and senior high school girls’ leader, and to say I absolutely adore all those young ladies (and the guys, too!) would be the understatement of the century. I feel like they are all my younger brothers and sisters, and I cherish every second I have with them. They are the greatest group of young people on this planet.
Travel: The last three years were full of some pretty incredible trips. We were able to travel to Hawaii, Alaska, Key West, Las Vegas, Washington DC, New Orleans, Scottsdale, New England, and Nova Scotia. We made several trips to Universal Studios and Walt Disney World and got to go on our first post-pandemic Disney Cruise. Plus, we were able toexplore local areas such as Hocking Hills and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and we made trips to visit family in South Carolina, Virginia, and New York.
Education: To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Dave excelled in his master’s program. He was the AFIT Nuclear Physics and Engineering Department Distinguished Graduate. He received the Mervin E. Gross Award for most exceptional academic achievement, the MASINT Award for authoring a thesis that best exemplifies measurement and signature intelligence research and analysis, and the Tau Beta Pi Thesis Award for authoring a thesis that significantly contributes to the engineering field.
And that just about catches us up to today!
Of course, Dave’s academic success provided him with a wide range of follow-on job options. He had US Strategic Command options in Nebraska, intelligence positions in DC and Florida, and, of course, options back in New Mexico (which I vetoed immediately). But trumping all that was a direct offer to teach Nuclear Physics for the United States Military Academy at West Point. Dave has wanted to teach physics for about as long as I’ve known him, so when he got the offer, it was pretty clear he should take it.
So off we went, back to New York State. West Point is situated in the Hudson Valley, right on the bank of the Hudson River. I have to admit it’s gorgeous here. Most spots around campus have stunning river views, and we can see the opposite bank from our house. I suspect that once the leaves have fallen, we will be able to see the river from our house, too, which is a very nice perk.
We rented our house on Ohio to a lovely military family, in the hopes that we will be able to return in three years and live there again. We really miss the house and neighborhood, but I have to admit our house here on campus is actually pretty nice. It’s a 3 bedroom + office, 3 bathroom, 2000+sq ft home with an oversized two car garage and plenty of additional storage, so I didn’t have to downsize as much as I expected. The exterior isn’t much to write home about; it’s just typical government housing. But the inside is lovely with hardwood floors, 9’ ceilings, and large windows (and, of course, the fantastic view I already mentioned). Now that we are fully unpacked and decorated, I’m pleased with the house and feel like we got fortunate.
As far as Dave’s job is concerned, he absolutely loves teaching. I think he’s actually in a bit of a state of shock that he is able to teach, and every day when he comes home, he is just grinning ear to ear with excitement to tell me about his day. He hopes that after his three years here, he can get his PhD then hopefully another teaching assignment before finishing out his time in the army doing something in intelligence or stratcom.
As for me, I am still working in Human Resources at OpenVPN. I was promoted into a management role a few years back, so now I run the US side of things from an operational HR perspective. I also finally took the plunge and enrolled in a doctoral program, and as of next week, I am 25% done with the program. I’m having a lot of fun with it — it’s obviously very challenging and keeps me busy. Still, I’m enjoying the research journey and have already started developing components of my dissertation.
Since Dave and I are tied to traditional school schedules now, and our spring and fall breaks do not align, our ability to travel is a bit limited. As I mentioned in a previous blog, we will focus on exploring areas in New England, like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. And over winter break, we hope to escape somewhere warmer than New York (if you have any suggestions, let me know!). And, of course, we will be doing some separate trips. Next year, I plan to travel to Hawaii with my mom, go on a Disney cruise, and visit Santa Catalina Island with a friend. Dave will probably make a few trips to New Mexico, Nevada, and Texas.
So that’s about it! God has continued to be incredibly gracious to us over the past ten years of our marriage, and we are excited to see where He takes us over the next ten.
Lydia Pert 