March 7, 2012

This sounds really dramatic... but I'm saying it anyway because I don't know how else to start this post. So here it goes.

One year ago today, our lives changed forever.

Ok. Got that over with so now I can tell you why.

Last year at this time, we knew Chuckie would find out soon about LGO. Current students told us that when you're accepted, you get a phone call from Don, the head of the program. For whatever reason, we were expecting the phone calls (or no phone calls) to happen the week of the 10th-11th. We had psyched ourselves up for months leading up to this- the GMAT, the application process and due date, waiting to see if he would get an interview, the actual interview... It was several months of agony. (Well, for me anyway. I'm a very impatient person.) So by early March, we were more than ready to find out if we were going to uproot our lives in Kentucky or if we should plan to settle in for another year while Chuckie re-applied and/or applied to other schools he was interested in.

So Wednesday, March 7th, we were hanging out at my parents house watching a UofL basketball game (surprise, surprise) with my dad, when a voicemail appeared on Chuck's phone. He had turned it off earlier during the game because it was acting up. Around 9 o'clock when he turned the phone back on, the voicemail appeared. Of course, he had missed a call in the 10 minutes his phone was off. He looked to see who it was from and said "It's a 617 number..." and started to listen. I could tell instantly by his face what it was, and I knew 617 was Boston's area code.

When he hung up he said, "Well, that was Don. Telling me I've been accepted to LGO!" I think I started screaming, my dad jumped out of his chair and high fived us and Chuck immediately started making phone calls to his parents and sisters to share the good news. My dad reveled in the fact that he was the first one to find out because he was "in the right place at the right time" and we waited for my mom to get home to tell her the news.

That night and the days following were so exciting but also full of mixed emotions. We both had great jobs in Louisville, great friends, a good routine and of course our families. Why would we want to leave all of that behind? Move to a city where we knew no one? Give up our weekly paychecks? Move away in the middle of planning our wedding? Miss our family and friends who mean everything to us? Because it's an adventure. Because we will grow. Because grad school has always been Chuckie's goal. Because it's an investment in our future. Because WHO SAYS NO TO MIT???

While LGO didn't technically start until June, I will always think of March 7th as the beginning of our LGO journey.  And I know I keep saying  "we" and "us" and "our journey" and talking like I'm in the program too so I need to note that while I am not up doing homework until 3 am, taking classes, tests, going to meetings, working for these partner companies, etc etc (Chuckie and LGO classmates- you're amazing, I don't know how you all do it), the SOs are VERY MUCH a part of the LGO program and this is our adventure too.  And we get the better end of the deal because while our LGOs are studying and doing homework, we're having happy hours and exploring Boston. :)

It's been a crazy year and we're looking forward to the adventures still ahead of us the next year and 3 months of the program. It's already going by so fast!