Collin's College Choice: Who, What, When, Where, and Why

We have a decision!

In case you're wondering why, or how, a full month after decision day Collin is finally choosing a college, here you go: Collin was accepted at over half of the schools he applied to, which is great! But, after visiting, re-visiting, or re-re-visiting them, Collin felt that they all seemed to be lacking... something. So, we reserved a spot at the school closest to home but continued to apply to late-decision schools. And thank goodness we did!

In that process, we came across a great private school in St. Augustine, Florida, that seemed to very much suit Collin's college wishlist. He applied, was accepted, and yesterday I sent the check to reserve his spot. Collin will now, barring major catastrophe, be going to Flagler College. Flagler is a private liberal arts college, with slightly less than 3,000 students total. It is absolutely beautiful, highly ranked, and has a strong business major, which is Collin's chosen area of study.

We are too busy right now for me to focus on the fact that Collin will be 3,000 miles away; I will have to process that later, as well as worry about how we are going to get Rachel to understand (without non-stop tears) that Hatty doesn't "live downstairs," but rather across the country. As for now, we're just trying to survive making it through prom, graduation, finals, visiting Florida, finishing all the paperwork and logistics, and purchasing a whole new wardrobe for Collin that is light on sweaters and heavy on Bermuda shorts. Thankfully, I already spent some time grieving my empty-Collin-nest-ness a while back, the details of which can be found here.

I don't think Collin can fully feel it either, as he is even busier than we are in some ways. He is, after all, the one who has to go through the high school exiting process, which is very similar to when I left my internship at the White House a few short months after 9/11. Speaking of which, although I certainly can't speak for Collin, I can say that Andy and I will be happy to leave high school behind. Elementary school is amazingly fun and junior high is still a fairly good time for parents, but (listen up you parents of little ones!) high school is a whole new ballgame where, despite your best pitching, you lose every game by one run. Or at least it feels that way.

There are many good aspects of Collin being in Florida: some of Andy's cousins live very near to where Collin will be, and my aunt Lucy and cousin Graham also live in Florida. And have I mentioned that Collin will be 3 hours from where Karen (Collin's girlfriend of over a year) will be attending college?

In late June or early July, Andy, Collin, and I will visit St. Augustine and check out the area and the housing situation so we'll know what to throw into the U-Haul that will not be pulled by Collin's Jaguar, but rather by one of our (much) lesser cars. Unless we're in too much of a hurry (and when aren't we in a hurry?), the road trip should be a great opportunity to see some people along the way.

When the time comes for the the actual move to Florida, we will have to beg (or bribe) my sister to let us borrow Nana, as Nana will be on Katie-time then, and we will very much need Nana's moving-in skills to keep Collin, Andy, and me from arguing over the best place to hold on to a dresser to move it up 12 flights of stairs or who gets to walk backwards up all those steps.

But in the meantime, tomorrow is prom. I will flood your Facebook news feeds with pictures, so you may want to block my status updates for a while.