Another thread on Dream Schools led me to this question, and I can't be the only one out there who is confronted with this? Actually it is my son who is confronted with it, I'm just the one who paid for it all!
Dream School T-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, magnets, cuzies, coffee mugs, pennants; what did you do with it all?
One year ago, my son pinned a pennant of his dream school to the wall in our garage where he works out a lot when home from boarding school. He spent most of last summer in there. My wife and I actually bought him the pennant and suggested he hang it somewhere for inspiration. He chose the garage. Long story short, he committed to a different school. He is grateful and very excited to attend his chosen school and play baseball there.
To be clear, the school he committed to is A dream school, but was not THE dream school.
When son committed he was away at boarding school. Wife and I were in garage a few days later and she suggested we take the dream school pennant down and get rid of it. At first I agreed as I felt a little bitter and disappointed about seeing it pinned to the wall. But then I thought, "No, that wouldn't be right."
By son having a Dream School, it meant that he had a goal. To attain goal son also went about having a plan to get to Dream School. And boy did he. He attacked the plan through actions, many of them, to get to Dream School. In the end it didn't work out. Perhaps even more disconcerting is they had contacted him. He had AC/RC's cell # on his contact list as they had spoken several times. But in the end it just did not come together. More on their end than my son's. Actually, make no mistake it was definitely on their end that things didn't come together much to my son's chagrin.
In the end, I told my wife, "No. We're not going to get rid of it," (or at least I wasn't. My son may but I won't). My reason was one of appreciation. Even though things didn't work out and son did not "make it" to that school on the pennant in our garage, I was still grateful for the process. For the role that school served in my son's journey. In a roundabout way, THE dream school helped son get to A dream school. I will always have a fondness for son's Dream School. It played an integral role in son's journey to the school where he did commit. The school that hopefully will play a major role in his life for the next 40 years. That's huge.
Gotta have a dream school.
. Ol' Rowdy spoke at one of my high school football pep rallies back in the 80's...being an Awbarn swimmer and all.