Navy – Page 7 – A Grain of Salt

Getting In

Published January 19, 2026

50 Stories for 50 Years | Post 03 I didn’t spend much time wondering whether I would get into the Naval Academy. In 1976, I assumed I would. That certainty wasn’t confidence so much as innocence—a product of youth, limited perspective, and a life that had unfolded almost entirely within the familiar boundaries of Annapolis, Maryland. This may sound strange now, but at the time, I never doubted the outcome. I was that young, that…

1 Comment

Before the Doors Opened

Published January 12, 2026

50 Stories for 50 Years | Post 02 Growing up in Annapolis, Maryland, with the Naval Academy’s outline just across the Severn River, I never gave much thought to attending it. That’s the simplest truth. I roamed freely through buildings and fields, along the water, across spaces that felt familiar and unremarkable. The idea of attending the Academy never entered my mind. There were no women there, because there had never been women there. Since…

4 Comments

Celebrating 50 years

Published January 5, 2026

Celebrating 50 Years of Women at the U.S. Naval Academy: One Woman’s Story I have long passed my 50th birthday, and Gary and I are almost as distant from reaching that milestone as we are from celebrating a significant wedding anniversary. So, what exactly am I celebrating in 2026? The answer still makes me pause. 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of women attending the United States Service Academies, including my alma mater, the United States…

5 Comments

The Connecting Cap

Published March 3, 2025

I was eager to return home after a week on the West Coast. The early morning ride, the shuffle through security, and the familiar ritual of finding my gate with a book in hand were all part of the journey. Travel is never just about the logistics—it’s about the people we meet along the way. A delay and gate change brought me to Gate N3, where I settled in and took a moment to notice…

3 Comments

The Shelter of Friends

Published February 10, 2025

While February is known as the month of love, I think less about romance and more about the love of friends. If anything, it has been the love of my friends that has supported my nearly 40 years of love with my husband, Gary. We live in an age of increasing isolation, losing the deep social capital that once wove our communities together. I count it a privilege in 2025 to live in the same…

4 Comments

Finding Community at the Commissary

Published January 13, 2025

I’m getting to that age when I find myself scanning obituaries and realizing that the list of people I know is longer than those I don’t. But, as it turns out, the obituary column isn’t the only place I become keenly aware of the absence of familiar faces. My regular visits to the military grocery store—the commissary—seem to bring people’s absence into sharper focus. I’ve been shopping at the Annapolis Navy Commissary for over 60 years.…