Growing Up: Big Decisions!

Last summer my baby and I went all over Florida, North Carolina and Georgia looking at colleges, yes, colleges! She spent a week at SCAD for a lacrosse camp and loved the coach and the school. She was hoping to get some $$ from the coach so I could afford sending her there. We went on a tour of the buildings and she loved it....but no offer of $ came, so her heart was broken. She moped for the rest of our trip.

Delta Gamma House -FSU

I was so excited when we pulled into Florida State and found my freshman dorm, Landis Hall. Memories came flooding back. I took my first "walk of shame" into that building one morning at 10:00, shoes in my hand, horrible hair, morning breath and keeping my eyes to the ground. I sat on the sidewalk almost every weekend at about 3 or 4 in the morning when some drunk dumb ass would pull the fire alarm-it never failed-every weekend and we all had to evacuate the building! So when my kiddo was contemplating going to FSU, I was pumped. I even took her over to my old sorority to show her how beautiful the building was, she would have all kinds of parties that would require new dresses, she would get to live in the gorgeous house where young men worked as servers for dinner each night, etc. I laid it on thick. She was getting into it, my fingers were crossed......

We looked at USF and decided that Tampa was the "Armpit of Florida". The school might be good, but the area was yucky. I was happy when she decided that she didn't want to live in that area for 4 years. FSU was still looking good to her!

We looked at U of Tampa and she liked that a lot! It wasn't FSU, but it was close to home, I could live with that.

U of T - Tampa

Then we looked at Ringling in Sarasota and she loved the idea of an art school. But with the price tag of $42,000 per YEAR and very little to no $ given out for scholarships, we moved on. Go NOLES!

Ringling College of Art and Design - Sarasota

I had her in Florida....I had her using her prepaid college $.....I had her Bright Futures $....I had it in the bag. She wasn't sure about FSU, she was actually thinking of staying near and going to FGCU, but live on campus. I could live with that. It might not be my first choice or even second choice for her, but hey, she's my baby and she'd be SO CLOSE!!!

Then, the large, white envelope came. It came silently and unexpectantly in the mail. In fact, it sat in the mailbox all day long with no one retrieving it until about 7:00 that night when I remembered the mail. I tossed it to her, thought it was just another brochure from the many college brochures we've been getting the last 2 years. It didn't look special. It was so ordinary. When she opened it, she screamed and looked at me with the most intense hope and desire I had ever seen in her eyes. She had been accepted to SCADD AND they offered her an academic scholarship. In that instant, my dream died. I knew it was over. I would not have my little girl close by. She would be gone, in a city that is wild, historic, hot and even sometimes smelly (paper mill). But in that same moment, I looked at her eyes and they sparkled. I said to her, "You're going. I don't care how, but you have to go." I can't deny her...I won't deny her. This is her dream, this is who she is....artistic, creative, different......I will do everything I can to make her dreams come true. That's what you do as a parent, that's what I've been prepping for these 18 years. My baby will be in Georgia and I couldn't be happier!