August 209: College search memories

Dad and Gaby on the (Huntington) beach, late March 2016, at the height of height of her college search. We did not even have UCLA confirmed on the radar at this appointment; we were unable to book an admissions tour. Two days after this beach shot we just showed up on campus, had lunch with Hannah Chug, crashed the tour, and the rest is the proverbial history of Gaby's college experience.

Stumbling -- literally -- through the move-in crowd at Towson University yesterday, all 2500 new students crammed into about five acres of dormitories, I found myself thinking of our own search processes and move in days at college for Jane and Gaby. The rush yesterday reminded me most of that move-in day two years ago, when Gaby, Dena and I boarded an early morning flight for LAX, laden with twelve pieces of luggage, and landing at LAX later that morning. Good fortune followed us, as we located an Uber driver, struggled through LA traffic, and hauled that luggage from the Sunset Boulevard entrance down a hill to Sproul Hall and what would be Gaby's home for the next nine months. She was settled into her room before some of her local classmates had even left home.

More than a year earlier, H=Gaby and I made a swing through six southern California schools -- USD, UCSD, UCI, LMU, USC and UCLA -- in about four days. After our second visit of one day to UCI, we drove to our Marriott hotel near LAX, but first stopping for a vegan snack in Huntington Beach. The accompanying photo captured us at twilight, full of energy, joy and optimism about what the remaining days would bring, and where it would take Gaby a little over a year later.