United States Naval Academy and Marv

After Elle’s divorce from Sam she was out swimming one summer Saturday day with friends who decided to stop by the club owned by one of the young people’s relatives. The upstairs part was a posh upscale expensive place serving food and drinks. Downstairs housed a cabana type place that was affordable and informal enough for the swimmers to visit with wraps covering their bathing suits. Elle and her friends sat around a large table and ordered some dinner. They noticed there was a group of midshipmen at another table. They were unmistakable since they all wore their white summer “ice cream” Naval uniforms- the ones all the Naval Academy students wore.

http://www.usna.edu/midlife.htm

After awhile one of the midshipmen approached their table and asked Elle to dance. She thought “Oh why not” and got up to dance with him. She found out he was a junior at the academy and his family was from New York City. They danced and talked and he asked for her phone number. Elle decided it would not hurt to give him her number but it was several months before Marv was on the other end of a call coming in to Elle. Perhaps he had waited and deliberated about whether to follow up with the beautiful dark haired, brown eyed girl he’d met. Maybe he had forgotten about her and inadvertently came across her phone number one day in a jacket pocket or drawer.

One of Elle's Swimsuit Photos

Since he was going to be coming to her town again the coming weekend Elle agreed to go out with Marv. Thus began a beautiful love affair where Marv came to town every weekend he was able to leave the Academy and Elle traveled to Annapolis where she stayed in inns that were available for family members and friends who came to visit the midshipmen on weekend when they could not leave Annapolis. Marv’s schedule and studies were rigorous but he found time to spend with and court Elle.

Marv and Elle had a lot in common. They were both athletic. Marv had selected the Naval Academy for one reason- gymnastics. It seems like an unusual reason for choosing a school especially considering that Marv ended up making his lifelong career in the United States Navy. As a young man his passion was athletics and he became the champion rope climber during his time at the Naval Academy.

The couple loved laughing and doing fun things together. Marv told Elle his mother was English and his father Jewish. Marv had never eaten a crab so one weekend they went on an adventure to introduce Marv to eating crabs which he immediately enjoyed. Marv’s ancestry mattered little to Elle who was a combination of German and Scottish. One had no way to choose their ancestry and who you were as a person was what Elle considered important.

After losing men she cared for to their military careers she was nervous about Marv’s future in the navy but she couldn’t help herself…she was head over heels in love. Marv also treated her like a princess and made Elle feel very special with his kind attentiveness. It was all a welcome contrast to the abuse she had suffered in her former marriage. Soon they were an item and all of Marv’s buddies at the Academy knew it was Marv and his girl Elle.