Last Saturday, I got accepted to UConn Law. Yay!
Slight problem, however: UConn doesn’t handle scholarship info quite the same as other schools I’ve applied to. Quinnipiac, Roger Williams, and Western New England all told me in the email how much scholarship money I’d received. UConn, as I knew from other applicants, mails out a packet with that info right after sending the email but doesn’t include it in the initial email. So I had to wait. This is what happened during the week of waiting.
Thursday was our annual company meeting, which I had to go down to Washington DC for. My wonderful stepmom Joni came to watch Molly while I was gone, and Wednesday before I left I showed her how to check my mail, with strict instructions to open anything UConn sent and call me immediately if it came.
Unfortunately, during the trip I encountered an enemy much worse and more insidious than delayed scholarship info: dental pain.
Several years ago a molar in the very back of my mouth cracked. It’s been fine since then, until very recently when (I would later learn) some kind of infection probably made its way through the damaged tooth into my gums and spent this week wreaking all kinds of havoc. At 1 AM in a hotel room in downtown DC the night before the meeting, in too much pain to sleep, I found myself crying and cursing GBAO for making me do the trip until I realized the sensible thing to do would be to make Uber Eats bring me some Advil, a snack to eat with it (always eat a little something before taking ibuprofen or other NSAIDs, it coats the stomach lining and helps prevent the ulcers NSAIDs can sometimes cause), and caffeine for the next morning.
The meeting went well enough after that, or at least I think it did. The Advil was only marginally effective in the afternoon and I don’t remember much from the qualitative research discussion because the only coherent thought I was capable of was “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST MY MOUTH HURTS.” I skipped the post-meeting happy hour in favor of going to CVS for more supplies and then back to the hotel to rest - coworkers, I’m very sorry and I’ll make it up to y’all next time I’m in DC and my mouth isn’t in agony.
Friday was more fun, though. We had professional headshots taken while everyone was in town and GBAO even brought in hair and makeup professionals to help out those who desired it. I have no idea what to do with makeup, so that’s me! The woman doing my hair asked if I wanted it fully straight or wavy, since my hair has a natural curl at the very end, and I decided to mix it up and go wavy. I’m quite pleased with the result, though I’m too lazy to do this myself often - I don’t even own a curling iron, honestly.
This isn’t the headshot - I left that to the pros - but I had to take some selfies too! I had a lovely train ride back to CT after that, and based on the compliments I got from strangers in the Metro and on Amtrak, I knew I was looking good. Even took a bonus selfie on the train which I’ve already put on my online dating profile.
After arriving in New Haven, I immediately went to a dentist I made an emergency appointment with. Which meant a brand new dentist and hygienist got to discover that I hate the dentist, get terrible anxiety, have a comically small mouth, and my gag reflex is borderline violent. Fun! They diagnosed the infection, gave me some tips on managing the pain, wrote me a prescription for antibiotics to clear the infection (no narcotics, but I don’t really like those anyway), and made me an appointment with the oral surgeon next week to get the wayward molar taken care of once and for all. Wish it could’ve been handled in one visit, but I’ll live.
I arrived home to a little dog who was extremely happy to see me, but no scholarship info from UConn. So, more waiting…
But while I was waiting, Saturday was time to honor a tradition my dad and I have had for a few years. I adopted the Washington Capitals as my favorite hockey team while living in DC for ten years, while Dad is a lifelong Boston Bruins fan. The past few years, when COVID-19 has allowed, I’ve gotten us tickets to a Capitals-Bruins game in DC as a Christmas gift. It was a great excuse for him to make a visit and we always had a good time together, no matter whose team won. We cheer for our own teams, but we’re always good-natured about it and respect high-level play from both teams.
This year, even before I decided to move, there was only one Caps-Bruins game in DC and the timing didn’t work for either of us However, a Saturday afternoon game in Boston seemed perfect. Therefore, we decided the tradition was moving to TD Garden, home of the Bruins, and I bought him the tickets as usual. We met up in Riverside and took the T in and had a wonderful time together, though I enjoyed the outcome of the game (a 2-1 Caps win, with some great goalie play rather ruining a strong Bruins game) a little more than he did!
And then…when I got home that night, a big envelope from UConn School of Law was waiting for me in my mailbox. I took it upstairs to my apartment, greeted Molly, and opened it up right away.
UConn Law, my top choice, offered me a half-tuition scholarship.
I still have some things to think about. At this point, I’m deciding between UConn and Roger Williams in Rhode Island, which specializes in a smaller legal market and would require me to move to RI but also offered me a full-tuition scholarship. I have visits to both schools lined up and I’m crunching some numbers to see what I can make work. But I feel so lucky and excited.
While I’m thinking about it, I’m currently watching the Super Bowl and enjoying that in women’s college basketball, South Carolina stayed undefeated by beating the brakes off LSU today (I wrote an extensive Twitter thread about how Kim Mulkey, former Baylor and current LSU coach, is a terrible person) while catching up on chores and managing the dental pain as best I can. Hope you all had a great weekend and get to enjoy some good snacks during the game!