December 28, 2009~~10:49 p.m.
College apps...

Wow. Nearly a year has passed since I've been here. Things have happened to people I considered friends; I missed them and feel pretty bad. Will have to write email.. explain.. beg forgiveness.

Been thinking a lot about Diaryland friends as we move through Elle's senior year and the college application process. She applied early action, non-binding, to Loyola Marymount and found out (on her eighteenth birthday) that she was accepted. Today she got a letter informing her that she was awarded a merit scholarship of $13,100, renewable annually, that will cover half of the difference in cost between the private school and a UC campus. This is good news.

It's going to be difficult, but much of our decision about where she'll be able to attend will probably come down to financial aid. The full-price yearly tuition at the schools we are looking at most seriously runs around $10,000 more than I make in a year. Which, of course, is money we're already spending.

We'll be filling out the FAFSA on New Year's Day.. celebratory, no? .. and then crossing our fingers.

Elle still has two more applications to finish: Pomona, due Jan. 1, and Occidental, due Jan. 15. If she completes them the same way she did the others (LMU, UCSB, Scripps), they'll get pulled together pretty last minute and be far from the best work she is capable of doing. Given that I won't be going away with her to school in the fall, I guess it's time to just let go of the urge I have to light a fire under her. This will not be the case next year when Shoe is making his applications. He will do them on MY timetable.

The husband is bugging me about going to bed. It's late. He has to work. Blah blah blah. Maybe I'll start coming here again. Like an old pair of shoes, it always feels right.

~Alice