What Summer Might Bring

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, we had a second baby girl.

Julia holding Grace on her birthday

Then she grew. And got smart. And ambitious about her future.

We had an interesting discussion tonight at the dinner table (prompted by her) about summer programs that she could apply for in the gap between her junior and senior high school years. She is looking at a bunch of medical science programs that would be relevant to her interest in neuro-pharmacology (whatever that is...). Assuming these summer programs happen, of course.

Field Major Grace

There are programs of related relevance in Philadelphia (Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania), Washington DC (Georgetown University) among others. Somewhere in the discussion, she ruled out the University of Pennsylvania's summer program because she told us that their program was too expensive. I'm not sure of the context in which she reached that conclusion, other than that a perceived sizable amount of money is a perceived sizable amount of money.

Which I have been thinking about in the hours since...

I was able to go to a world-class liberal arts college in part because I was able to get accepted to that school, but just as (or maybe more) importantly because my parents and grandparents lifted me up and gave me the opportunity to do so. I will never forget how fortunate I was to have that door opened for me. Being able to get accepted to a school doesn't mean much if you can't afford to actually go there, or if you do but then spend the next few decades saddled with crippling student loan debt....

Which I guess brings me back around to my original thought. It's Grace's job to aim for the stars. It's our job to build a rocket to help her get there.

Now I have to go Google neuro-pharmacology...