College, part 2
Jan 28th, 2009 by ellendonna
College… It really starts around 11th grade with SATs, SAT2’s, and guidance meetings about getting into college. But it becomes real when the college visits start. Our first visit was a day trip to Connecticut, during the spring of Michael’s junior year. Over the next few months, we made our way to Philadelphia, New Jersey, Washington, Boston and points in between. Visiting colleges and sitting in the information sessions, thinking that Michael was really going away to college was very strange - very hard to believe. But I really enjoyed all of those road trips we made. We spent quality time together (anyone with teenagers knows that the car is one of the best places to talk!) and had some adventures, including blowing a tire exiting the Washington Beltway on the way to Georgetown (thank goodness for AAA) and forgetting where we parked our car when we visited George Washington, only to finally find it, with a parking ticket, only moments away from being towed! Needless to say, Michael did not end up going to school in Washington D.C.
There were also some funny experiences, such as noticing that EVERYONE who walked into the information session at Boston University was really tall, and the GPS failing us a few times (not funny at the time, but funny looking back).
I am very grateful that I was able to spend that time with Michael, and be involved in his college selection process.
College… there’s more…
All my life I have heard the cliché “it goes by so fast,” but never has that been so real as when my son left for college. Too fast, I would add, very emphatically. I don’t really remember his being a baby, only that he was one, and some of the details of the events that meant the most, or were most funny, or most storied in the family — but the realities of those moments, the feelings and images of those moments are gone. Perhaps that is the way it is supposed to be — but at the moment he left for college, it was very, very hard to accept.