Into The Future

We took #1 to look at the Business School at the University of Texas at Dallas this morning. She was up and dressed early. I’ve been dreading it all week.

It’s no secret in our house that I’m not ready for her to be old enough to be thinking of college. Wasn’t she just 8 yesterday? Wasn’t I just adjusting her wig for an Irish dance competition last week? How can we be thinking dorm rooms and meal plans? I’m just not ready for her to be gone. I fought back tears this morning as I dressed. Her dad dragged his feet getting ready to go. Neither one of us was in a rush to see the future today.

As we sat through the opening talks of their prospective student orientation, I caught a glimpse of her. Her eyes were bright with anticipation. When the head of the business school began talking about the accounting and finance programs, she leaned forward. The smile that played about her lips as she listened to tales of academic rigor and the honors program broke into a full out grin as she listened to the head of the school of business. She sat in that auditorium chair and saw her hopes and dreams for herself. She saw her future up there on that stage, and she was ecstatic with what she was seeing.

Her enthusiasm was contagious, and by the end of the morning, I was looking at dorm rooms and thinking about where she could hang some pictures. I wanted nothing more for her than the dreams that she was imagining for herself. In that moment, reminded myself that we haven’t raised her so that she will live at home with us forever. It was then that I felt myself begin to let go.

A year and a half. That’s how much time we have left before college. It’s not very long at all.

College.

Wow.

Now we just have to figure out how to pay for it.