When the boys get together....

The oldest of James' military buddies come from his stint at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, in the late nineties. There he met three young men: Ryan (Air Force), Micah (Army), and Shaun (Air Force). Okay, Shaun came after James had left DLI but Shaun was an alumni of DLI so we just consider him from the start. James would talk of them often to me sharing his crazy stories of their high jinxes in CA and then when they were all stationed in the Washington, DC, area. Ryan was by James’ side right after Jaime’s birth in 2001 when he was shuttled from hospital to hospital. Even before I had met them I considered them part of our family. Shaun lives in Northern VA near us. Micah current lives in Canada (his wife works for the State Department). And Ryan lives in New York City.

In 2006 I got to meet Shaun and Micah when James had come up from GA for a visit. I was very excited to meet them. And I didn’t meet Ryan until 2008 right before the wedding (for those of you at the wedding Shaun was the guy in a kilt and Ryan was the guy in a suit) but I knew I liked him from the start when he got me a glass of wine!

Whenever Ryan or Micah are in town the old gang gets together. And it can be a riot. Ryan was down recently on a visit and brought his girlfriend, Amy, whom we were very excited to meet. As we sat down to dinner I said “Let the games begin.” Amy looked at my with a puzzled look, and I explained that when any combination of Shaun, Ryan, Micah, and James are together there is always a good time and wild stories.

Here is the proof:

This is Ryan, James, and Shaun at the beginning of the night after dinner.

And this is Ryan, James, and Shaun after a night at Murphy’s Irish Pub.

Boys will be boys.....