Bright College Years

My cousin is a senior in high school.  This is odd.

He has applied early to Yale, been deferred, and is now anxiously awaiting their final decision.  This process sucks.

I remember when he was born.  My brother and I got the birth announcement and our eyes nearly popped out of our heads when we saw how long his freaking name was.  We're a family of hyphens, and his has a Scottish twist, resulting in a 30-letter moniker that rolls off the tongue surprisingly well.  I won't reveal the actual name, having received severe reprimands for doing something similar once before, but I'll share this: I jokingly asked his mom if I could call him Gilly for short, and the icy glare I received is still melting somewhere in the house in Newton.

Anyway.

G.M'G was born, and I looked at the picture of the little nugget on the birth announcement next to my aunt's calligraphic writing (which, apparently, every female on that side of the family is innately able to do), and I thought "Damn. This kid's gonna apply early to Yale someday."  No, actually, that's not what I thought at all.  I think I thought "Damn. What a little nugget with a massively long name."  I was 8.  How deep could I get, really? 

But I do remember that feeling of awe.  I had a nugget cousin!!  A buddy!  A future friend!  It was awesome.

They came to visit a few times when he was still a little beeb. We went out to California a few times.  We did various things together and I continued to thrill at the idea of having a cousin - an automatic buddy! - to play with.  He was pretty cool.  He liked to smile.  He liked to play musical instruments.  He thought I was amazing and fun to hang out with.  All positive things.

As he grew older, we learned about him from afar as the cross-country visits lessened in frequency.  He liked unique and interesting things (read: He wasn't allowed to play organized sports so he took up medieval activities, like fencing and archery, and excelled at them. Go figure.).  He was very musical (read: He played the penny whistle.  Now he also plays guitar, violin, and sings - and probably does more that I don't know about - but the penny whistle is my favorite, for obvious reasons.).  He was a cutie (read: Runs in the fam.).  He was incredibly smart (read: He was incredibly smart. There's no hidden meaning behind that one.).

I sent him a birthday card when I was living in New York in 2006. I drew a big bubble-letter 12! on the inside left card page.  He was turning 14.  He still talks to me.  This demonstrates his forgiving and loving nature.

As some of you may recall, I went out to San Francisco last February and stopped in for a night with the fam.  I learned on this trip, in addition to all those other things, that he has an intense love for The Dave Matthews Band.  He also now swears.  He gives a huge, awesome hug.  He has increased in awesomeness.

He came out East to look at colleges this past summer and stayed with us for a week.  I got really excited for him, picturing all the freshman week activities that start off the whole college experience - foam parties, awkward ice-breakers, not knowing who to sit with in the dining hall, the unlimited breakfast buffet that exists every day in exchange for a mere swipe of your student card (also known as fake money used to magically do laundry and get late night snacks at the Corner Whore Store), and the instimacy of bonding with the people who will become your best friends faster than you ever could have imagined, and stay so literally for the rest of your life.  I pictured him trying out for a cappella, his beautiful bass kicking ass and landing him a couple bids at least.  Then I got a little nostalgic until I remembered that I have one last summer at grown up summer camp grad school and there was no need to be jealous.

It was fun to have him around that week.  Jess noted that he's like the younger brother I never had but always wanted.  She had a blast watching the two of us interact - ribbing each other relentlessly, but with such love.  Seriously.  Such love.  I love this kid.  He amazes me.  He is so freaking smart, it blows my mind, and he's got an edgy little sense of humor now that makes me oddly proud.  On my mom's side of the family, there are relatively few of us in our level of the family tree.  In fact, there are four of us.  That's it.  I made a conscious effort to try to keep the distance between us a geographical thing alone; I've tried to stay in touch with him so he knows he can reach out whenever he wants or needs, to find family - nutty, goofy, but with such love for him. The thought of having him 45 minutes away is ridiculously exciting.

He's a Debater, just like our great-grandfather (or was it great-great?).  This means doing lots of research, accessorizing primarily with Thesauri, practicing how to say really big words in a really small amount of time, doing lots of standing up and pacing, and also, in his case, doing lots of mopping the floor with just about everyone he comes up against.  Incidentally, have you ever heard real debate?  The ridiculously fast pace they use to say anything and everything in an allotted segment of time has prepared him for a college major in Auctioneering.  Even at the dinner table he talks a mile a minute, so I can only imagine how good he is at this.  Anyway, he just qualified for Nationals, so... he's kiiiind of a big deal.  And even if that somehow doesn't pan out, he's over 6 feet tall so he's still kind of a big deal. 

I remember that week in December 2001 when my friends and I all started to hear back from schools.  Accepted early at Harvard! Accepted early at Yale! Accepted early at Brown! And then there was me. Rejected early from Barnard! Thaaat sucked, but ultimately led me to Rochester, where I met some of my best friends and had a blast. I think a lot about that decision. My life would be SO. DIFFERENT. today were it not for that decision. So yeah. I get the anxiety he's feeling right now, waiting to hear.  It's rough.

That said, college is college.  It changes your life regardless.  You meet amazing people, take some amazing classes, suffer through some shitty professors, and learn a lot about a lot of things - sometimes leading you with even more certainty down a path that you've been planning to follow for years, sometimes leading you to something you haven't even conceived of yet.  If you're a smart, driven, inquisitive, social, and talented kid, you're going to make it wherever you go.

(Hey, Cuz! That's you!)

Sending madly good vibes to the West on your behalf!!