Thanksgiving Reflections

By Alexander Boroff, Tara Middlebrooks, and Brigid Hickman

In keeping with annual traditions, the Thought to Action leadership team wishes you and your families a Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving. Each year that passes gives us new reasons for gratitude for and appreciation of our many blessings. We share a few of our reflections below.

Alexander Boroff: Changes, Choice, and Challenges

Reflecting on this last year, between a move, a new assignment, and a return to the tactical Army, I personally have much for which to be thankful. After spending the last year working at the service enterprise level on the Army Staff, returning to an operational unit feels almost surreal. The day to day sense of urgency, the dynamic priorities, and the sense of direct involvement with the “doers” of the Army are things that I’ve both missed and am thankful to have returned to in my professional life. 

While it has been both professionally and personally rewarding to have worked on the Joint Staff and the Army Staff during the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Chiefs of Staff (OSD/JCS) Internship program, returning “home” to the unit where I started my Army career is both emotion filled and nostalgic. While some things have changed, it feels somewhat comfortable to be back in a relatively familiar setting after working in the Pentagon for two years. I’m truly grateful for all the leaders on the Joint Staff and the Army Staff that invested their personal time and involved themselves in my life directly to push me to be better. I’m further thankful for the return to the “big Army” and its challenges and changes that make me grow.

Professionally, the experience of reading what my colleagues write on a bi-weekly basis and learning from them on this medium has been one of the most rewarding projects in which I have been involved. Finally, personally, I am grateful for all my friends and family who have supported me over this last year and my wife who is eternally cheering for me and our son.

Tara Middlebrooks: Gratitude

The word provokes feelings of humility, relief, pride, and hope. 2022 has provided me with “all the feels” and as I reflect on why, I’m reminded of just how fortunate I have been. 

I recently transitioned from the best job I ever had—serving as an Assistant Professor at The United States Military Academy at West Point. I was blessed to be surrounded by some of the most incredible people; Officers and Civilian Professors striving each day to help develop the best people and leaders of the next generation, cadets with intense curiosities to see and understand the world, friends who became family and supported each other through some of the most trying times of the pandemic. The small role I played in that experience has forever changed me, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have lived it for that short time. 

My husband and I welcomed our first child after moving to Virginia this summer. Becoming parents has been the hardest, most incredible, most exhausting, and most exhilarating experience. Watching our daughter grow and experience the world for the first time has helped us see the world in a new way—full of fresh curiosities, hope and promise (albeit with a little less sleep than before🙂). When we first announced we were expecting, the support we received from our families and friends was unlike anything we’ve experienced before. Whether it was offering advice, a compassionate ear, making us food, or exercising patience as we adjust to this new “normal,” we’ve never felt more loved. It was a reminder that relationships are truly our most valued possessions. The more we invest in them, the richer our lives become. 

Brigid Hickman: Love and Loss

Family and friends top my list of what I am most grateful for this year. On July 2nd, I married the love of my life James “Jamie” Hickman surrounded by our dearest loved ones. Marriage has been our greatest adventure yet, and we have been incredibly blessed by the love, prayers, and generosity of family and friends as we begin this next chapter of our lives. 

For as much as we have gained this year, we have also experienced loss. In May, Jamie’s grandmother Betty “Nonnie” Wright entered eternal life the day after her 95th birthday. We had hoped she would be present at our wedding, but she passed peacefully surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. A memory that Jamie and I will cherish forever is playing our first dance song for her. We had kept our song choice a secret: an instrumental piano version of “Edelweiss” from “The Sound of Music.” Despite having lost her ability to speak several days prior, Nonnie began smiling and mouthing the words as soon as she heard the first few notes of the song. She squeezed our hands and gave us a beautiful final memory with her that we will never forget.

Another difficult loss occurred in early September when my dear friend and mentor LTC Nick Goshen passed away unexpectedly. I am grateful for the years I knew him and the catalyst to reconnect with so many former colleagues in the aftermath of his death. 

Wrapping Up 2022

As we close out this year, we’ll have a final article for you in mid-December and will pick back up in mid-January. We hope you enjoyed a restorative Thanksgiving holiday and experience the joy of the coming holiday season!