New Cold Normal….

Ahhh- where will our kids go to college….Joe and I have fun with this "dream/game" for a long time. He visited Stanford and called me and said- if she wants to go this far away to a school like this- she can.  My parents gave me the - we have to be able to drive you, drop you off and get back- days driving radius.  I figured out that radius on the map and looked at schools on that perimeter.  Whittenburg was one- we stopped to see Denison, overnight in Granville (my mother's suggestion) and the rest is history.  When we moved to Granville - the quintessential hometown to raise a family-a pause for me was realizing our kids would most likely not attend our Alma mater.  We really don't know where they'll go - we have fun driving through college towns- Peter loves his Duke Baseball shirt from last summer's drive home lunch location. Sally recently asked about Wake Forest. This is as much fun for Joe and I.  But not the point of my blog today…certainly a great topic to dig into as I listen to parents praise the KTU program- Explore College- the parent part of the program this weekend!!

I've always thought it might be fun for one of the kids to go to Middlebury (we vacationed close by on Lake Dunmore for years growing up- one of my favorite places in the world) or even St. Lawrence- we were lucky enough to visit friends who work there one year- one of my favorite drives was through Lake Placid on the way to VT) but it what lurked in the back of my mind was- but the winters- oh so terribly cold…..

Not anymore.  Extroverting while at Denison on Saturday I realized this winter has prepared us for anything.  We're capable to roll with the cold much more than I ever had imagined.  This morning I walked the dog and though- oh it must be very cold today.  I was even wearing the church mission purchase/recycled fur coat and thought it was cold.  I was out on that day with -21 and places in Licking County deemed the coldest anywhere in the USA. Today felt just about as cold.  Just looked at my phone:  it is -5, yes negative 5.  I'm typing this to document it.  This is the cold winter- the snowy cold winter.  We'll remember this - like the ice storm, the hot ball game summer, the wind storm summer.  Life on Newark-Granville Road is cold and preparing us for our future no doubt!  Of course this may drive our children's eyes to southern schools…liberal arts Rollin's College is looking pretty good too!