Wednesday, March 15, 2017

The Agony...

She plopped the laptop onto the kitchen table.  I was washing the dishes after dinner and enjoying watching the sun gleam pink across the park behind our house.  I glanced her way - she didn't look up, but typed and entered and typed again, and entered.  Finally she sighed, and I asked, "What's up?"

"Someone heard," she whispered tersely, without lifting her eyes from the laptop.

"Heard about?" I asked.

No answer...but I knew.  I knew she was talking about her last college application.  I kept scrubbing; when I finished the dishes I carefully wiped down the counters, then returned to the sink.  The empty peanut butter jar was waiting for me, and the stress of not asking, of not saying anything pushed me to begin to rinse that sticky container.  She continued to type and enter, type and look intently at the screen.  I trembled inside.

"What's happening?" I asked casually, hands in the sudsy water.

"I can't remember my password to get into my account," she whispered, and looked at me, agony in her eyes.  "I think my account is frozen."

She got up and closed the lid on the computer.  "I'll just have to wait until tomorrow," she stated bravely, and she headed back up to her room.

Ten seconds later she cluttered down the stairs, again gripping the laptop.  "Mom," she squealed, "I think I got in! Look."  We both peered at the email that started, "Laura, you got in. Take a look at this video..." and she clicked the link.

Wordlessly we watched the beautiful faces of these young people expressing their joy at their college choice. Occasionally we looked at each other hopefully.  Finally "Take the first step, pay your deposit." rolled across the screen and we believed.

She's in - She burst into tears, and I did as well, and we wrapped our arms around each other.

Go Dukes!  

5 comments:

  1. Yay! I got a little teary-eyed too. Congratulations!

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  2. As I was reading I was mentally crossing my fingers. Congratulations!

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  3. I was on holding my breath right along with you guys! Great writing! (AND Congratulations!)

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