Two Down, Two To Go

I called Shana tonight to congratulate her. Two down! Two to go! Yay! Only two more years! She said, "I don't want to talk about it." I didn't expect that. We had spoken several times during the day - on the way to the library, four more hours before her Statistics final, need to talk to teacher for one last time, go over one more thing, then one more email, until ready for the test at 1. I'm all, breathe, read the questions carefully, blow your nose, caffeinate. Then later, leading up to the Spanish final at 5. Ready for this, but a bit worried. Shana said it takes a 92 in the class in order to get an A and that's where she stands now before the final. She emailed the teacher, worried again. Amazing Spanish teacher (I saw her in action a couple of months ago) responded, you're an excellent student and I'm sure that you will get the grade you deserve. After the test, another phone call - it went great! But hours later, she didn't want to talk about it. She's not ready for it to end. She had a wonderful year. Her first really on her own, in her own house, no parents, no RAs, no dozens of kids in and out of the bathroom (well, except for a few parties that I will never get the entire scoop on). She made a new best friend and bonded more with a couple of old ones. She got to choose her classes this year after trudging through some general ed ones last year and really started to enjoy them, started to make the connections with her instructors in these smaller classes. So, she's not ready for it to end. Not ready for a fun summer with moi? Snuggling every day, swimming, sushi, manis, pedis, traveling, watching our new fave show Parenthood (since The Gilmore Girls ended)? But I guess if there's anybody that can understand, it would be me. One of my professors at Virginia Wesleyan College, a tiny, perfect for me, liberal arts school, used to say "the real world sucks, don't go" and I took his advice. I love college. I kept going. Even if my employers didn't require it, I kept going. Graduate school. Twice. It's like my brain was requiring it. I made some great friends, had some incredible experiences and, oh yeah, even learned a lot. So when Shana said that she didn't want it to end, I told her that in two more years, she'll be ready. But I guess I really didn't even believe that myself.