It is the first Saturday in August of 2021. I am still in great spirits from my good fortune last Saturday. I just finished breakfast at Ta Bueno, one of Brainy Bird’s favorite Mexican food places, which opened just before Covid, and is well suited for take out. This is the second time that I have dined inside and ordered two breakfast tacos, and this is the second time that they got my order wrong. Brainy Bird avoids this by ordering the same thing every time. I guess I need to become a regular, like my son.
This time last year, our routine of treating Brainy Bird’s college application process like a job had begun. We set up two workspaces in the extra room of our house, and we called it the work room. Brainy Bird would usually arrive at 8 AM, always before 9 AM, just as one would in a corporate job. He would find me already busy with my work day.
I would take a fifteen minute break from my work, grab a cup of coffee, and he would go over his plan for that day. These discussions gave me insight into what Brainy Bird’s top universities were. He would never openly say what his top choices were, he would always say that he will wait until he knows everything – where he is accepted and the associated cost. I could tell by where he chose to spend his time, which universities were his top choices. If I had placed a bet this time last year, I would have put my money on Stephens Institute of Technology because of their top rated cyber security program.
Brainy Bird would then get started on whatever application or essay was the priority that day, and he would ask what the plan was for lunch. At least once a week, we decided on Ta Bueno, and he would cook for us on the other days.
These productive days were filled with excitement, dreams, and intense anxiety. While I cried at night and felt a deep sense of despair and uncertainty, Brainy Bird kept dreaming. The nights were dark, but everyday the sun rose, and everyday Brainy Bird kept me going with the tail winds of his dreams.
We learned so much about one another. He would hear me on calls at work, and gather bits of information about what I do for a living. He often noted how incredibly smart the people are that I work with. He asked some good questions, like how did we learn what we know. Was it in the classroom or through work experience?
I learned about him too. He gets a light in his eyes when he is deeply engaged in writing. I some how had no idea that he has such incredible writing skills. I joked that he is officially better than me at everything. I learned that he shares my love for Slumber Falls, and I learned what his true passions are as he wrote about them in his essays.
We talked about what he thought he wanted to do after college, and he has a general idea, but has not decided on the specifics. He wants to program. He loves developing video games, but he feels cautious about making a hobby into a job. He thinks he might like to work for the government in cyber security his first few years out of college.
During these days, I worried what would happen to the economy; I worried if school would start; I worried if I would be able to keep the job that I so dearly loved; I worried about so much. All the while, Brainy Bird soldiered on. Fast forward a year, and here we are embarking on the most exciting days of Brainy Bird’s life thus far.
One day before we leave for South Carolina on Thursday, we will undoubtedly want to pick up lunch from Ta Bueno. I find it endearing that this little Mexican restaurant, which struggled to survive and triumphed, became a special part of our lives.
It is the little things in life…