February 16, 2025. THE WAITING

 

Stressful time of year for high school seniors--if they don't go ED. College lingo for early decision. Going through the college process has been a totally different experience with Tim. He's a stellar student with lofty goals. He applied to 14 schools and wrote AT LEAST 20 essays.  It's  been a game of hurry up and wait. Hurry to get in all college applications/essays--EA--early action or RD--regular decision. The only good thing about EA is that it's NOT binding BUT the problem is we really don't find out much about financial aid yet. The problem with RD is that we don't know if he's even accepted until about April 1st--BUT by that time we find out about financial aid right away. SO WE WAIT. And hope he gets into one of his TOP CHOICES and either gets a decent scholarship/grant money to make his dreams come true. If you are a fan of Elizabeth Strout's books and love her characters Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, and Bob Burgess then you must read her new book Tell Me Everything. This beautifully written novel is once again set in Crosby, Maine. There's been a murder in town, and Bob Burgess is hired to defend a hermit accused of killing his mother. In a town a small as Crosby, this is a major event. Famous author Lucy Barton, having moved to Crosby during the pandemic with her ex-husband William, walks weekly with her friend Bob as the two ponder life, choices and the human condition. Bob also introduces Lucy to Olive Kitteridge, now 90 and living in a retirement community. Olive is still her old salty self, but the two hit it off as they tell each other stories about people they knew and call them "unrecorded lives." Strout's rich characters are vividly portrayed as they grapple with understanding love, human connection, the importance of story telling and as Lucy Barton struggles to understand "What does anyone's life mean? I thoroughly enjoyed every minute back with this cast of characters and I'm sure you will too. Enjoy.