Two blogs in one day?  Was today extraordinarily notable?  No.  But I did set out to write three blogs this week, and I only wrote two.  Also, I am stuck in traffic on the Parkway and am looking for a way to amuse myself.  So I'm writing this rough draft on the back of a Stockon dance flyer, leaning on the Stockton introductory brochure, and writing with a Stockton Police pen.  By the way, we're coming home from the Stockton open house.

The college open house/touring season actually started in the summer.  I know someone who covered three campuses in two days back in July.  I didn't realize it then, but that is impressive.  We didn't see anything during the summer because Tara was ultra-involved in the lifeguarding season.  By the time we were ready to roll, the colleges went on recruitment hiatus to concentrate on freshman orientation and the start of the school year. 

On our first excursion, a day heated by hell, we, along with other families of high school seniors, had spring in our steps.  We were hanging onto the welcoming words of college presidents.  We eagerly inspected dining halls and dorms while we enthusiastically imagined our children soaking up knowledge in the hallowed halls of learning.  A month later, we run into the same folks "on the circuit".  They are looking tired and confused about which dorm they are currently standing in.  I look at them empathetically and know that I am the same as them.

We are over halfway through the applications.  Since Tara is a studio arts major we still have the "portfolio season" which will require more trips, the awful "waiting for decisions" period, the financial aid phase, and the fateful decision finale.  This will bring us to the end of high school rites of passage, the shopping for college, the packing of the car, and finally, the day my youngest will step solo to her hallowed  halls of learning.  In Tara's case, the halls are actually studios with huge tables, state of the art giant screen computers, and dark rooms housing high tech equipment whose function I can only guess at.  This is the gain for which we are willing to go through the pain. 

Then BP and I are going on vacation.