Tag Archives: penn state

No joke. This is an actual note from Jana. On the 2nd anniversary of its writing, I thought I would post this to give all of my friends of HS seniors a laugh and let them know that ‘this’ happens in every household. 

I distinctly remember the day she wrote this. Her level of frustration had reached an all time high. In turn, my level of exasperation followed her lead and it would be safe to say the two of us were certainly not having our finest mother-daughter moment. Danny and Gary run for cover in these instances.

We went to our respective corners to lick our wounds and try to decompress. After some time she walked in my office (the command center in the basement) with a folded up piece of paper, sealed on all sides with the words “Open September 2007” written on it. She tacked it on the bulletin board over my desk and made me promise not to open it sooner.

Hard to believe but I actually waited. I did not even hold it up to the light. Every once in awhile during the course of that bittersweet emotional roller coaster of her senior year, I would glance up at it and get all teary-eyed in anticipation of what poignant words could be written inside. After all, was I not the parent that held her hand through the grueling process of college selection? Did I not help her compile the coveted ‘binder’ that had her friends green with envy? Oh wait, I think that might have been my friends. Or were they actually discussing their concerns about my OCD behind my back?

Anyway, I did wait till September 2007 to open this. I came back from the trip to Wisconsin with that pit in my stomach that every mom of a college freshman has. That feeling that maybe the idea of sending my daughter half way across the country was not all that well thought out. I sat down at my desk – tissues in hand – and slowly opened the note, expecting an outpouring of sentimentality.

Instead, I found a genuine piece of my Jana written on that page. With the wit and sarcasm I have grown to both love and miss so desperately. You will always keep me laughing baby girl. I love you.

Oh and now I am starting the process all over again with my OTHER favorite child.

Wait, this was not supposed to be a Time to Cry Tuesday post. 

Whatevs.

BTW, as you have read, she finally did say screw you to Penn State and chose to be a Badger instead of a Nitanny Lion. Perhaps it had something to do with that torturous online app.