On The Funway

It's official, it's real. Gavi has been admitted to Smith College under Smith's Early Decision program.

Smith was not only her first choice of colleges, when I asked her what her list looked like a couple of months ago, she replied with the quote in the subject line. Yep; it was her first through fifth choice of schools. Early Decision was clearly the right choice for this student.

She's obviously pleased by the good news, pleased and relieved that she doesn't have to write college essays for Barnard, Princeton, and the other schools she was going to apply to if the news from Smith had been anything else.

Me? I'm suffused with happiness. Happiness for Gavi, and with the ohmigosh sheer wonder not just that she'll soon be going to college, but that she'll be going to college right here in the Pioneer Valley, a mere 42 miles from Toad Woods. Or 38 miles by the slower back roads.

Back when I was talking about moving away from Minneapolis, Susan firmly and immediately said, "You can move away when Gavi goes off to college." Susan was right; being 1300+ miles away from Gavi these past 7 years has been the hardest consequence of my move. Yet I also knew that waiting until my late 50s wasn't going to work for this whole "living in the woods" experience. If I was ever going to do it, I needed to move when I did.

Gavi, Susan, and I have done a terrific job of making lemon meringue pie out of big basket of lemons I brought to the table by moving away. One of the first things I did upon buying Toad Woods was to use frequent flyer miles so Gavi could not just see where I lived, but also see it was a place she could come to. In the years since, Susan's driven out four times so she and Gavi be here for long, wonderful visits. I've been back to Minneapolis as often as I've been able, and Gavi's been east on her own a couple of times, too. Gavi would have been looking east to come to school regardless of whether I was here or not, and having Toad Woods as a home base made it easy to visit several different colleges over the past two summers.

And now? Now she's coming here. Here to Smith, the school that's so clearly such a good fit and exactly where she wants to be. Here to the Pioneer Valley, home of Toad Woods, Aunt Geri, and many wondrous times to come.

Goshwow. Life is good. Life is so very good.

Congratulations, Gavi!