Airline tickets, ties, and unemployment

This journey, as we all know, is full of milestones. Bachelor’s, MCAT, Primary, Secondaries… This waiting game has a lot of stages and each one tells us that we are making progress, even if it is isn’t as apparent to the outside world who thinks you apply in spring for the following fall semester along with high school seniors.

We are at the next big milestone… Interviews.

It just got real, ya’ll… and yes, I am from San Diego, but I say ya’ll and have for years. It could come in handy for fitting in next year depending on some of these interviews.

Here are a few observations I have made at this stage of the game:

1.       “Are you going with him?” Uh no. This is expensive enough without carting me with him to every interview where I can sit bored and alone in a cheap hotel. I am rooting for schools I have never rooted that much for, simply because a yes from there could mean he doesn’t have to go to a more expensive interview location that we are even less interested in. This is March Madness, and my bracket is broken down by airline trip expenses. The interview that was two miles away?… Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

2.       “What about this tie? Do these shoes go? I was better dressed than anyone there!” That man didn’t give nearly as much care about what he wore to our wedding,. He wore flip flops his mom picked out with his tan suit his grandma bought him. I sometimes have to veto outfits as we are leaving the house and send him back to change.  Suddenly, he is looking up fashion advice online and sending me pictures of ties under suit jackets and showing off his new shoes to me.  He even told me that he kinda likes picking out outfits… Who are you?!

3.       He has gone from Mr. Confident to terrified he isn’t going to get in anywhere. Interviews mess with your head, and MMI's are even worse.

4.       We are asked every single day if he has gotten an acceptance yet. No. Most schools haven’t even set up interviews yet. We will tell you when there is a yes. You will hear us yelling and jumping up and down. Live in a different state? Don’t worry… you will still hear.

5.       I have been unemployed pretty much since June 1^st. I got a job for the month of July, and they weren’t able to pay me, and I am still trying to get paid. I have been the main income earner for us, and now I am making 1/6^th of what I was… while he is spending 6x what he was.  I’m no math genius, but that doesn’t add up. Looking for a good paying job when you have no idea where you will be living?  All this uncertainty is awesome on marriage. Not.

6.       We could have a yes in October, or we could have nothing at the end of this. We could be nearby, or we could be thousands of miles away. We pray every day that this is not a fruitless journey. The stakes rise every day...  and so do the bills.

A few weeks back, I had a dream.  We were walking to a destination, and the road was extremely rough and had some extreme obstacles that seemed impassable. We had GPS, but were sure it must be broken, because why in the world would it take us this way? Then someone came up to us and smiled and said, “Just because the road is rough, it doesn’t mean that the directions are wrong”.

Through all of these milestones, expensive travel and uncertainty, we are on the right road… and apparently more fashionably.