We got to see Elizabeth!!! Parents' Weekend was amazing! It was so incredibly fulfilling to see Elizabeth's Knox life, to see how she is thriving! We met 14 of her 15 suitemates and found every one of them, bright, motivated, fun, and positive! We went to the men's soccer game because her very good friend plays on the team! We ate out quite a bit! We went shopping! I attended a Race and Culture class! We played What's in a meme? in our hotel lobby! We observed her suite play "How well do you know your roommate?"! I thought the most precious moment was when asked, "Name one thing your roommate does that annoys you," and both E and Angel wrote "nothing." We watched them play trivia night and come so close to winning a prize! We ran into the men's basketball co
ach - twice - and posed on the court to let Michael know we hadn't forgotten him. (In fact, the coach is the one who took the photo and made sure there was plenty of Knox-related signage in the background.) El
izabeth is such a grateful, appreciative person, she is always such a joy to be around. She encourages everyone and laughs often. She studied for a test during one of our lunches but didn't get worked up about it. She seems to have completely adapted to college life in only a few short weeks. I marvel at the life she has created for herself, considering she knew no one before arriving a few short weeks ago. She graciously spent so much time with us, and we loved our Friday-Sunday visit. I would have loved to know Elizabeth when I was in college. We did catch her napping once, so we may have worn her out. We cannot wait to see her again. Every single day we talk about it.
I spent four days in San Diego, visiting Regina. It's as if we talk on the phone every day, how easy it is to be with her. We try to be mature and talk about adult things, like parenting and marriage and careers and world politics. But sometimes we find ourselves regressing back to our rather immature moments of college and we laugh and laugh and laugh, to the point that others around us stare. Although I have seen Regina many times since she moved to San Diego, this was the first time I went to her La Jolla home. It is beautiful, about 3 minutes from the ocean. We hiked and walked and noticed everyone was passing us on the trails ... but we doubted anyone was having as much fun as we were! We did get locked in the San Diego Girl Scouts' headquarters parking lot (Regina is the GS board's chair) but we found that amusing as well. She is an adjunct for San Diego University, teaching employment law and also contracts. I got to see her classroom and listen to her groan when grading midterms. I watched Maya (her 13 year old daughter) play field hockey, my first ever such game! I truly consider Regina a sister.
Since receiving Michael's highlight reel, college coaches continue to contact him for recruiting purposes. Wittenberg, the winningest DIII basketball team in that division's history, invited him to participate in their elite camp. Thirty high schoolers attended the day camp and showed their skills, while the coaches attempted to woo them if they liked what they saw. Steven and Michael both loved the campus and the coaches. It must make Michael feel so good to know multiple schools are interested in him, especially because he is only a junior. Scott County's official practices begin tomorrow, although they have had Open Gym practices for months.
Steven has a fairly high standard to reach. He spent so many months investigating colleges for Elizabeth, based on her interests and other criteria (e.g., "it must have an extremely diverse student body"), before narrowing it down to the final ten they visited. Knox seems like an ideal fit for Elizabeth, so now Steven must figure out an equally ideal match for Michael! He has his work cut out for him, but as always, he takes on this latest project with optimism and joy! The man amazes me.