Tuesday 15 June 2010

Someday is better than never.

In the very beginning, before me (and Georgetown), had convinced Mr. Penny he could shoot higher, he was focused solely on the University of Idaho for law school.

When we came here, the plan was to stay 9 months, save some money, and go home to start law school this fall, 2010.

Well, we got here, and we took a real good look at our finances, moving expenses, college loans and wedding debt --

Just a side note. If there is one possible bit of advice I could give to the engaged, it is this: Under no circumstances should you take out debt to pay for your wedding. I don't care if you want the pink flowers, or that real big dress, or a super great cake. It is a terrible plan. From one newlywed to another. Live within your means.

Okay.

-- and it quickly became apparent that if we wanted to cut up our credit card, we'd have to stay an extra year.

So, law school was pushed back to the fall of 2011.

THEN Mr. Penny gets the email from Georgetown Law. He's accepted.

Silly Mr. Penny, he never thought he'd get in, but, of course, His Royal Smartness did.

We were going to Georgetown.

Until he realized if one top ten school would take him, maybe a few other would as well.

A month later, we were going to Stanford. Definitely Stanford.

Or Berkeley?

After that, Cornell. Because Cornell is ivy league and we're so going to Cornell.

Then somewhere in Virginia. Or Chicago?

Maybe he'd test again and try for Harvard, but not Yale. Too competitive.

But Harvard's not?

Now, it's Columbia. Definitely Columbia because it's number 4 (depending who's making the list).

And now I'm hearing, "When we move to New York, we won't be able to own a car, you know," and, "I think we can look for an apartment in the 1,000-1,200 range," and, "New York isn't as hot as Korea, is it?"

I believe him every single time he changes his mine, as much as he believes himself, but this time I think it might be real. I looked a few things up, calculated his chances. He's not exactly a shoe-in, but he's got about a 75%-85% chance. Maybe better.

Initially, Manhattan was the only place I didn't want to go. Well, there or Washington, D.C. I was hoping for Cornell, honestly. I love upstate New York.

But, the more we talk and the more we read and look at apartments, the more I remember those dreams of young adulthood to live in a cramped apartment, in the big city. I won't be able to own a fuzzy, lazy, lumpy cat (Mr.'s allergic), but there will be coffee and red wine and, sometimes, noodles and movies and crusty bread. And raw milk from upstate. I looked it up.

I like the countryside, I've realized that as I've gotten oh-so-old. I love Idaho's flat valleys and stiff, desert mountains. I love the bare farmland and the openness of being twenty miles from the freeway and I want to raise babies there and grow old in the dry, cracked desert. I never thought I'd want to stay in Idaho forever, but I do. Oh, how I do.

And not just because we're away now either.

Still, a few years in the city? I'd forgotten that was a dream, too, until we really started thinking.

And I could go to 15th Street Meeting on First Day, which is maybe my most favorite Quaker meeting house of all time.

And M&J Trimmings, which is where I got my wedding pearls. And the Japanese bookstore with its craft books, and they have SANDWICHES in America, don't they? And some of the best in New York City.

So, I think we might be happy. We won't be in the country with the dirt between our toes, but we will be someday and someday is better than never.

No comments:

Post a Comment