Accepted (Part II)

With Emily's college decision reached and us being satisfied that we investigated and gave it our all to find the best university for Emily.  That FDU has the small class sizes & resources that will give Emily what it is she needs in order to be a success as a person, not to mention the chance to become what she's always wanted to be, a writer.   We can live with that, I'm not sure if she had taken the easier route of Community college, we would have been as hopeful for her future.  I think at a community college she could have become a #. We are hoping she'll be "accepted" at FDU for who she is, especially in her chosen major,  a community of like-minded writer types who will hopefully come to have Emily's back as a member of the same tribe.  What an amazing thing it would be for our daughter to be INCLUDED by others for who she absolutely is.   That's all I've ever wanted.  It's important that I share the next tidbit with you because it's one of those moments that feels like it never happens.  We often tease in our house that if it wasn't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all.  Just the other day for instance after paying over $3000 to get our car fixed that we would have for one day & get a flat tire, which ends up costing us over $100 to get fixed?  Why? Well simply put it seems...  because that's our luck. I could give another 50 stories fairly easily with similar tales but why bother depressing myself like that. the next story is mostly an exception to the rule. It involves Emily's birthday gift, it seems sometimes that we get Emily "fine" presents, but it had been a while since we had blown her sock off with one.  Well... this year we all but knew we had a real winner of a present. You see one day Brian was on twitter and Emily had retweeted about a book signing that Geddy Lee was doing at a bookstore in North Jersey.  Anyway..... Brian saw it & was like WOW... he picks me up at my store after work and I'm like... WOAH, we gotta do it!! This is perfect.  Now in case you're reading this and are not really sure who Geddy Lee is?  Well.. he's the lead singer of RUSH.  If you know anything about RUSH then you are aware RUSH no longer performs.  So... this was HUGE!! It was a ONE day only kind of thing, a once in a lifetime opportunity I mean this is a Canadian band who no longer tours, when would she ever get this chance again. SO WE JUMPED on it, we ordered it right there in the car in the parking lot of my store.  For the next couple of days, Brian & I were on a high... knowing that we nailed this birthday present.  The only even lil' hiccup was that Emily would have to wait almost a month to meet him BUT that would just make it that much more special... SOUNDS good BUT then one night in the middle of the night, I woke up in a panic?  It dawns on me that the WINTER Concert is sometime in the middle of December, but it couldn't be the same day could it?  Can you feel the bad luck a comin'?  YUP, you guessed it, it was the exact day as her winter concert.  Now missing out on the concert would have been a bummer BUT it was clear as days to us that meeting Geddy far outweighed missing the winter concert. When her birthday rolls around this was her reaction:

So she was going to see Geddy Lee, no ifs ands or buts about it. BUT... i know I said no BUTS but after Emily tells the teacher about getting the chance to meet Geddy Lee, the teacher informs her that if she misses the winter concert, she'll all but fail her class because you see the winter concert is basically the grade for the class for that semester.   Brian called to plead with the teacher, only to be told well I wish there was something I could do BUT... it is what it is, I wouldn't be fair... blah blah blah.  We in theory agree with the teacher but come on... this is Emily's idol, this is RUSH, this is Geddy!! The teacher gives an inch well if Emily can get to the concert before the 2nd half when her "choir concert" plays she'll won't penalize her.  OK so when is that?   Well it should be around 7:00.  But the signing is at 5:30 IN North Jersey a good two hrs away.  HOW?  Is this going to be possible?  HOW? But one way or another Emily was seeing Geddy Lee!!! We had made up our minds, at all cost... Emily was going to meet GEDDY LEE!