Today’s pretty happy around our house. My son, Gideon, was informed today that he has been accepted in the MFA program in creative writing at Virginia Tech. Getting to this point has been a long, long process that actually started well over a year ago when Gideon was a senior in college. At that point he really wanted to go to grad school and worked pretty hard on writing all the ridiculous stuff that the various schools required—mission statements,
autobiographies, why-I-want-to-go-to-your-school essays, etc., etc., etc. He applied to eight schools and didn’t make it into any of them. (These are residential programs with very limited numbers. VA Tech had only three openings for this year.) So his advisor and one of his teachers at UCD were quite surprised at this and called him in for a conference. One of the schools they thought would be a good fit was VA Tech. (I asked, “Well, why on earth didn’t they say that earlier?”) He got a call about a month ago saying that he was “high on the waiting list.” Then about a week ago he got an e-mail saying, “Are you still interested in being kept on the waiting list?” Which I thought was hopeful. And now, today, he got the position.
Whew! This is very exciting. And you know what? There’s now a ton of work to be done. All kinds of info to absorb, and forms to complete, and housing to find. Plans to be made. Stuff to figure out. Now I can sort out what to do about our big trip to Charleston, SC, for the Simons family reunion, since it’s right at the end of July and so will mesh well with the beginning of the school year. I can start doing Obsessive Trip Planning, or OTP.
There’s also a ton of work to do as we contemplate our move. It would have been great if we’d gotten an offer on our house today, too, but we did get a “second showing” from an interested buyer, so we’ll see if we hear something this weekend. Talk about tons of work! I said when we moved from Virginia to here that I never wanted to move again except into the nursing home, and here I am getting ready to do it less than eight years later. But I’m very excited about what we’re doing. (It helps that I haven’t packed a single box yet.) I’m really not dreading the drudgery, and moving always involves a lot of drudgery, because the end result is going to be so great. We’re going to be sharing a home with people we love, getting out from under the burden of this house, and moving forward with various endeavors. I’m sure there will be a few times when I’m ready to cry from weariness, but that will pass. Soon I’ll be drinking my morning coffee out on the lovely brick patio over at Lowell’s.
Did I ever drink my morning coffee out on the deck here at this house, by the way? Or on the nice enclosed patio at our old house in old Virginny? Um, not really. We’ve had wonderful times in both houses, but I haven’t been as conscious, as intentional, as I could have been with them. It’s been interesting, by the way, to look at this house through the eyes of potential buyers, to walk through the house each day before we leave, making sure that everything looks perfect. (I got distracted today before the showing because the showees showed up seven minutes early. So they got to see the ironing board still up and a few things scattered on the bed.) I keep saying to myself, “We should have done x months ago!” Oh well. I’ll try to do better at the new location.
What big projects are coming up for you? Are you happy as you contemplate them?