<p>Emmy - Could not have said it better myself…wouldn’t have even tried. Simply beautiful!!</p>
<p>Checking in after a crazy week of insane weather capped off with a Superbowl victory for my beloved Packers! </p>
<p>Haven’t had mail since last Tuesday- I personally shoveled my whole sidewalk this weekend just so the mailman could get us some mail this week. LOL - He might have some important letters for my D :D</p>
<p>Ohiomom- so sorry to hear of your loss. My prayers are with you and your family.</p>
<p>MOSB: that story about SB’s audition was a thriller. Brought tears to my eyes.</p>
<p>Emmybet: Loved the SHOUT OUT! You said it so perfectly. And congrats on your Ds variety of options for school next year.</p>
<p>50isthenew40- congrats on the positive UCLA news. Hope it ends up well</p>
<p>College4three: Sorry youre having a tough time. My thoughts are with you.</p>
<p>Amandakayak, Wanted to let you know that Im thinking of you and yours and that I truly enjoyed the Chinese wisdom in your post.</p>
<p>Congrats to anyone I may have missed.</p>
<p>I’m back after a very tiring weekend with my sophomore S at a tennis tournament. I just realized that the tiring ones are the best, because that means he wasn’t eliminated early and got to play more matches!</p>
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<p>That reminds me–recently when we had an ice storm and my husband was out of town for a week, I purposely left the 12 icy front steps icy as a burglar alarm (our mailman never brings mail, even packages, to the door). Wouldn’t you know, we had a substitute mailman who actually made it up the steps with a package? I felt really bad for him. I also realized that my burglar alarm was fairly ineffective.</p>
<p>I am way behind, and had to go back several pages to find MOSB’s story, but it was well worth it. Thank you for sharing it.</p>
<p>Mosb- what a beautiful story! You and your d have a wonderful relationship!</p>
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<p>Amen to that! To think that we are literally strangers, yet connect in such profound and continuous ways. It’s really quite extraordinary.</p>
<p>emmybet - Well said! Thank you.</p>
<p>Just finished making plans for our joint college visit/fun weekend trip to the Land of Many Lakes. It should be fun for all of us. First night- hotel with pool with slide and basketball hoops for fun water play, second night older d spends night at college and the rest of us relax in nice B and B, third and fourth nights- Embassy Suites in Mnp/SP with another pool and hot tub. So far, I have found concerts and a SHakespeare play for younger dd to go to with us while her sister visits (my kids have grown up watching Shakespeare plays and really like to see them) and we should have fun going to museums and USA’s largest shopping mall on other days. </p>
<p>I so understand others angst about the many great choices our kids have. I can’t even make up my mind what is the best choice and my hardworking d hardly has any time to think. Maybe all these visits will make it easier for youngest to choose in a few years. WE think we will be finding out where we are moving as soon as we come back from MN so only a few more weeks for that. Maybe that will clear her thinking a bit. She has at least dismissed two schools from consideration so now we are only at five that have admitted her and three for which we are still waiting.</p>
<p>One of the things I love about this thread is how common our experiences are…raising teenagers, grieving our parents, dealing with applications, essays, annoying financial aid forms, etc. and how we can relate and support each other.</p>
<p>And yet, I absolutely love learning how different our experiences are. </p>
<p>I just grabbed our mail on an 80 degree day, and didn’t think anything of it. In hearing so much about these storms, I just never thought about the fact that people are anxiously awaiting college news, and mail might not be delivered. </p>
<p>And I’m surprised/jealous? of how many people already have a few acceptances. None of the schools in our area have rolling admissions, and very few of dd’s friends will have any idea before April 1st of where they’ve been accepted.</p>
<p>A great story, MOSB. Very sweet.</p>
<p>Congratulations on all of the admissions.</p>
<p>ShawD only applied to two schools. She got into the first in November but the second one required a mid-year transcript. She learned today that she got in with a modest merit scholarship. Because room, board, tuition and fees are $15K, I’m not at all concerned that she didn’t get the big one ($12K per year) as I wasn’t expecting it. She has a decent record from a very good school, but there are going to be stronger kids. She still has to apply for the merit scholarship at her other school. We’d fully saved for both kids, so we won’t let money influence the choice. We will have to take a visit.</p>
<p>Senioritis is hitting though. She got a B- on a math test after having 99’s all year. She seemed to be waiting until the last minute to do a take-home physics test. I’m going to have to have another talk with her about the cumulative nature of both subjects. Unless she wants to start calculus over at college (not necessarily a bad idea), she needs to master it this year.</p>
<p>Congratulations Shawbridge!</p>
<p>Senioritis is hitting here too. But the next couple of weeks are going to be super-charged busy with her play so maybe schoolwork will take on greater importance after that is over. Or maybe not!</p>
<p>Off to Chicago, folks … I’ll let you know how it goes!</p>
<p>Shawbridge: Congratulations on your daughter’s acceptances. I think that senioritis is very common at this point in the year. I actually think that these kids have earned the chance to kick back a little. I wouldn’t worry unless the grades really start slipping.</p>
<p>I hope the audtions go well, Emmybet. It’s a good thing you weren’t headed to Chicago last week.</p>
<p>EB- hope your d has a wonderful experience!!! Can’t wait to hear how it went!</p>
<p>I posted last week about my son’s rejection from his first choice college and wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and ideas. We lost my dear father on Friday morning after a tough battle. </p>
<p>Fortunately, my son talked with his guidance counselor the day before, who imparted enough professional wisdom to put S son back on track. Apparently S’s rejection hit pretty hard because of the stress of my dad’s illness. You see, he was one of those larger-than-life men, beloved by thousands (he was a teacher, a principal, a coach, an accomplished athlete and a really nice guy) and was idolized by both my teens.</p>
<p>Son’s counselor made him realize the university was still the best choice for him, despite not getting into the college within, and whether or not he applies again for admittance his sophomore year isn’t important right now.</p>
<p>Thank goodness for this forum and all its wise and weary parents!</p>
<p>To ROM828–AMI is Anna Maria Island. I was born there and go back every year to sit on the beach and recharge my batteries. I hope I can afford the trip this year–I could use a recharge!</p>
<p>AMI: I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your father. He sounds like an amazing man and wonderful father and grandfather. I’m glad that guidance counselor was able to help your son feel better. I hope you can make that trip to Anna Marie Island soon.</p>
<p>AMI - So sorry to hear about your father. There seems to be so many losing their parents this winter. It’s great that your teens had a great relationship with him.</p>
<p>I’m a native Floridian and my parents have a place on AMI (free for me!) and we spend most of the summer down there. Lots of family time! Thank goodness for the internet, I can do a lot of work and totally justify it 
I hope you able to make it down - keep me posted if you do.</p>
<p>AMI: Hope you will cherish your father’s memories.</p>
<p>My in-laws had a condo on Anna Maria Island as well. They lived in Bradenton but had the condo to encourage their children who lived out-of-state to come visit. It worked! We had many wonderful vacations there. I wish they had that condo now. I could use a view of a beach outside my window rather than snow and below-zero temperatures.</p>
<p>Anyone else waiting for the National Merit Finalist letter? Our son didn’t get a rejection letter so we can assume somewhat that he made the cut. Weather in Chicago (home to NM) delayed the mailing to the schools, but in the NM thread on the CC Financial Aid pages, states all around us received their notification yesterday. I am not a patient person!</p>
<p>OWM - we are still waiting for NMF here too. Holding off the update letter to dream school as a result. Frustrating. No rejection letter, so D should be fine, but it would be nice to cross it off the list. D’s friend waiting for Coca Cola Scholarship news. THAT would be even harder, I think.</p>
<p>AMI - my condolences. Hopefully, each day will get easier. Yesterday would have been my Dad’s birthday. He has been gone for almost three years and I think of him fondly quite often; the sadness does ebb. </p>
<p>2 interviews this week. One more scholarship app. Will this never end? At least D has an easier academic load this term. </p>
<p>Now, my friends with 2012 kids are starting to come to me for guidance. I am happy to help them, but really just feel like giving them a hug and saying “brace yourself for a quite a year.”</p>
<p>Also waiting for NMF letter here and also holding off sending updates to colleges, and share frustration about this! Another acceptance - U of Michigan - still pretty low on list of favorites but certainly a great feeling to know that whatever happens he is in one wonderful school.</p>