"...something, something, something, my old Cornell!!!"
I'm going to have to work on learning the fight song. Although to be fair I doubt we'll be singing it much. I'm pretty sure the football team is still wearing leather helmets.
The road to getting to grad school has been an interesting one. It all started with a conversation that went like this:
B: I think I want to go to law school.
N: No, you don't.
B: No, I really do, I think a career switch would be a good idea.
N: I agree but you're not going to law school. You'll hate it.
B: So you're saying that if I went to law school you wouldn't be supportive.
N: That's exactly what I'm saying.
Three weeks later...
B: I think I want to go to business school.
N: Sweet, where are you thinking?
See, it's not that I wouldn't have supported Brandon's dream of becoming a lawyer, if that were in fact his dream, but it wasn't. This is why we get married, so someone stops us from making perfectly obvious mistakes. I'm pretty sure Brandon would have stopped himself from going to law school in the long run, but I saved him like 6 months of researching, pondering and praying. So go me.
The reason I so cruelly and abruptly put my foot down against law school is that Brandon just isn't built for it, business school however, is right up his alley and I'm excited that he's actually going to enjoy his schooling for once. I was there practically the whole time he was working on his bachelor's and it was like having to endure that awful sound nails make on a chalkboard. I would call it slow torture.
Anyway, anyone can talk about going back to school but not everyone does it and certainly not everyone gets into an Ivy League school. I'm not trying to brag (although I am extremely proud of Brandon) about him getting into Cornell, but what I am trying to brag about is Brandon's determination. He saw what he wanted and went for it. It was not an easy road. There was a lot of sneaking around because we didn't want his job to know he was leaving until the last minute (which incidentally is when we found out we were leaving), there were prep courses to take, family time to sacrifice, tests to take, lots of hard-earned money to spend, ridiculous applications to complete, a country to fly across for interviews and finally a bunch of crap to pack and a family to move across the country.
I remember when I dropped Brandon off at the GMAT site to take his test he got out of the car and I just sat there and cried. This reaction surprised even me, I was just planning on driving home, not sitting in an office park parking lot sniffling and crying. But I cried for all that time we didn't spend together while he was studying late into the night. I cried out of nerves for him. I cried out of jealousy because a huge part of me misses college.
When I was done crying I left and came back to find out he had done really well and was in the 94th percentile. Then the real fun began and he started to apply which required essay, upon essay, upon essay. All about meaningless crap like exhibiting leadership and overcoming weaknesses.
One day we were driving in the car and he said, "You know, I can do anything I want."
I just stared at him.
"I'm serious," he said, "anyone can. If you want something bad enough and you work hard enough, you can do anything."
"You sound like an acceptance speech. But I see your point. Yeah... I guess you're right, most people just aren't willing to put in the time. I'm certainly not."
And that's what I've learned from Brandon and this whole experience so far. If you work hard, really work hard and focus, you really can do anything. It sounds cheesy but the realization of it kind of took us by surprise. Tons of people go to great grad schools all the time but Brandon never thought he would be amongst one of them and yet here he is - going to school, being a nerd. Nerd or not, I really admire what Brandon has done and mostly the hard work he has put in to get it. I knew I married this guy for a reason.
