@goatmama This reminds me of the story of my (Southern) grandfather visiting his sister in NYC. He left for the day to go sightseeing, but came back to the apartment a few hours later. When asked the reason for his early return, he said:
“I went to the subway station and waited for my train. The train arrived, and I stood aside to let people off and to let the ladies on first. Before I could board myself, the doors shut and away the train went. After 3 such trains, I decided to come home.”
You will be fine… enjoy the adventure to a far away land!
Yep. In our travels, my kids never fail to draw looks with their incessant “Yes, Sir” and “No, Ma’am”.
@goatmama Try living in England where the only “Ma’am” is the Queen. LOL
Good luck @GoatMama! My first trip to the South a few years ago felt like an adventure, too.
Now my own great-grandfather, in 1910 or so, immigrated to NYC from the obscure little village in the obscure little European country that I am from. He made some money, and when the Great Depression hit he lost it all. He came back home, to his obscure little village in the obscure little European country. All he brought back was the suit on his back, a large mirror with a gold-plated frame, and a set of shot glasses. That was enough to woo a local village girl, who eventually became my great-grandmother. I still hope that during his adventures he may have had an illicit affair with a rich NYC girl so that one day I find myself with wealthy NYC cousins. That’s like waiting to get off the waitlist…
Chimneykid’s top college choices are in the South and we are hardcore Yankees so we are doing the reverse revisit to Goatmama. I will never forget when we were in California near Carmel, and my two girls burst out laughing in the crosswalk because when they stepped into it - the cars magically stopped! They had never seen that happen in New Jersey. Sweet tea here we come!
While we were in the car yesterday a call came thru from K1’s college ( which is also my husband’s alma mater ) so he took it and put it on speaker. The person on the line graciously thanked him for his recent donation but quickly moved on to another new and "unique giving opportunity ". ( I love that )
He listened ( while occasionally winking at me which made me incredibly nervous ) and when the woman was finished he said , Shouldn’t you be asking me why my last donation was less than half of what I usually give instead of proposing a new “giving opportunity”? Are you curious?
Silence on the other end… it was deafening. I was actually shifting in my seat because I knew what was coming next…
He said, I’ll consider your fine proposal when the University replaces “safe spaces and coloring books” with Board Certified Psychologists.
Here we go…
There was more but I’ll spare you. He politely ended the call ( without taking advantage of the " unique giving opportunity " ) and when we were returning home ( several hours later ) another call from the same number came in.
He just looked at me and said, There it is.
The call went unanswered.
@london203 My H stood in line to buy subway ticket/coin. He gave so much personal space to the person in front that everyone else cut in line in front of H (assumed H was not in line due to the space) and bought tickets.
Total non-sequitur, but…
Last night I watched the U Conn-Syracuse game. Mostly I wanted to see exactly how good the 2015-16 U Conn squad was…and boy are they good.
But seeing Coach Geno Auriemma and hearing some commentators talk about him and the program he’s built over the past week, I couldn’t help but remember a promising recruit who didn’t go with the big name program. Who pretty much eliminated any chance she had of winning an NCAA national championship with her choice of school. Someone who took a different path.
I’m talking of course about Elena Delle Donne. Who somehow, despite not going to the bigger name school and blue chip program, has managed to come out okay. She went #2 in the WNBA draft a few years ago, plays pro ball for the Chicago WNBA franchise, and is a likely candidate to make the 2016 Olympic team.
Never heard of her? Watch this:
https://youtu.be/SkWHrjdn5PY
I’m talking about basketball here, right? 
But Elena Delle Donne didn’t choose another path so much as she washed out of UConn the summer before her freshman year. She ran screaming back to Delaware, took a break to play some volleyball, and got back into basketball at home. She did alright for sure, but her experience with UConn was not some Robert Frostian exercise in choice and in priorities. Not exactly, anyway.
^^ No mention of her older, severely impaired sister, Lizzie? I understand that relationship to be the primary reason why, at age 18 or so, Delle Donne returned home from CT and went to the state university a short car ride away. The linked video and loads of other sources are pretty clear about this. Waaaaay beyond Robert Frost!
From an ESPN article:
Elena said. "I thought I needed to go to one of the top five schools in the nation and never even thought 'What's important to me?' Instead of figuring out what was important, which was obviously being near home, I kind of just went with what everyone thought I should do."
BTW, GnarWhail, do you often moonlight as a wet blanket? Also, I certainly hope that if you ever meet Ms. Delle Donne that you ask her why she “washed out of UConn” and “ran screaming back to Delaware”. Triple dog dare you.
More about the Delle Donne sisters:
https://youtu.be/OGfCwzM_irw
The UConn women’s basketball program isn’t for everyone that’s for sure.
@gnarwhail … I think you are missing the point.
What an amazing young woman! Thanks for sharing SevenDad! If more students looked for best FIT schools rather than most selective, biggest name, most national titles… I think there would be many more happy college students - and likely BS students as well ; )! My husband and I are both graduates of a pretty well known “public ivy.” Neither of my kids wanted/want to attend because they didn’t/don’t think it is the best fit for them. Son #1 is a very happy college sophomore at a great academic, social and athletic fit. Son #2 keeps talking about hidden gem LACs where he can swim AND/OR row…where on earth would he get such ideas ; )!!
Another non-sequitur:
If you are at all interested in seeing the newish film “Born to Be Blue” (Ethan Hawke) and are NOT already a Chet Baker fan, I encourage you to start with the Bruce Weber documentary “Let’s Get Lost”. It was my introduction to Chet Baker, and launched a 25-year fascination/appreciation of the trumpeter/singer.
Current and future BS students…you will be miles ahead of your college classmates when that time comes if you start listening to Chet’s interpretations of jazz standards now. You’re welcome.
https://youtu.be/9PfdYQzeJk0
Very moving , @SevenDad . Unwavering love and devotion.
A triple dog dare… how I love thee…
Many athletes have powerful and very moving stories… her story is simply amazing.
I’ll share this relatively new video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbPOe9ACXzc about rowing. It’s very well done.
Okay, I’ve saved you the trouble of finding the relevant part of this video:
https://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y?t=3m20s
Rest in peace, Prince Rogers Nelson.