College Tourarama

Every fall Burke sponsors "bonding trips" for its students -- a couple of days off of school in various locations in order to get to know your classmates. Sadly, Noa's only made one of these excursions (junior year to NYC) in their years at Burke due to illness and other issues, and since agenda for seniors is different, they are officially done bonding.

Instead of bonding trips, seniors at Burke are directed to spend the allotted days off either working on college applications or looking at prospective colleges. Noa chose the latter.

While we've done a few college visits with Noa, none have inspired a slot on their Common App. Moreover, Noa had some colleges on their list that we had never really heard of, so it seemed like a bonding roadtrip of our own was in order.

Slight wrinkle: Steve and Megan had borrowed our minivan for their move to New Jersey and it wasn't clear when they would be able to exchange cars (fun fact: about 2 hours after we left town), so we got to drive their 2015 Porsche to Greensboro, NC. While having a Porsche is somewhat novel experience (and potentially an easy way to head off a mid-life crisis), driving a Porsche that only takes top-tier premium gas (currently around $6 per gallon) and doesn't have cruise control on a roadtrip isn't ideal.

Still we made it work, leaving DC around 3 pm stopping a couple of times for gas (that's the other thing about Porsches -- not the largest tanks) and dinner (love those biscuits from Popeyes) and arriving at our Airbnb in Greensboro at 10 pm where we quickly crashed. 

The next morning we drove the 5 minutes to Guilford College, a small Quaker school which has a Rube Goldberg machine in its welcome center, is building an Escape Room in its Experience Design Class, and despite being a really small school (just over a 1,000 students) had a really big campus (though it may have just felt that way as we walked around in the heat).

After a quick lunch and quicker nap time, we headed to UNC-Greensboro where after a video overview and discussion with one of the admissions counselors, we were broken into our tour groups and sent on our way, with the last minute addition of UNC-Greensboro ponchos, as the sky had started to look a bit menacing. This was prescient, for shortly after we passed the Minerva statute (dedicated with fruit offerings of students hoping to do well on their upcoming exams) the skies opened. While our poor tour guide had opted not to take a poncho and got soaked (though a friendly professor offered her his umbrella as he passed by), while the rest of us were still able to enjoy the campus (and managed to miss the downed trees) suffering only some wet socks.

After the tour (which Noa really enjoyed and while still thinking Greensboro has more brick than necessary, appreciated how it was balanced with matching mortar), we headed back to our rental and did a load of laundry and rested before hitting a lovely Asian fusion restaurant in downtown Greensboro that Noa pronounced perfect for any future dates while in college.

When we were planning this trip, Allen got on the waitlist for a tour of William & Mary, thinking we could potentially stop on our way back, but assuming we wouldn't actually get in (turns out it was parent's weekend and they were slammed). Incredibly we did! Less incredibly, the tour was for 10 am which meant that we had to leave Greensboro at 5:30 am (which wasn't helping Noa to get excited about the prospect of being a member of the tribe).

We made the it in time and had a lovely tour of William & Mary (Allen reminisced quite a bit with the tour guide while touring the new dorm that rose where his freshman dorm Yates once stood), which Noa conceded is a good school, but still questioned its brick choices. After a not so quick lunch (it took a while to find a place), we headed back to DC, only to immediately run into traffic. The normal 2.5 hour drive took closer to four, and ended with our swinging by Steve and Megan's house so we could trade back cars in time for her to head back to New Jersey (with the cats in tow), Allen and I could make it out to Wolf Trap for dinner and an amazing Avett Brothers concert, and Noa could crash in their own bed with their cat, feeling pretty good about their college prospects.

(To see all of the pictures, click here.) 

17 Again

Sixteen was semisweet.

It had some amazing moments. Noa appeared in three plays last fall, nailing a monologue as Ann Kronenburg in Dear Harvey, taking a convincing turn as a disaffected young white male in #Matters, and then playing Sandy Stier in Proposition 8, a mom who sued the state of California in order to marry her partner (which resulted in Noa now having a wife and two kids at Burke). Noa painted a family portrait. They started college visits including staying overnight at Oberlin visiting Gabriel and Rosemary. They got their learner's permit... and logged three entire hours of driving. They rescued a desk chair from the streets of Capitol Hill. Noa got a fancy camera and started playing with light. Noa went to both homecoming and prom. They went to a cafe filled with cats. They discovered peaches & cream Olipop.

But, sixteen was also really hard. There were issues with teachers and homework and seasonal affective disorder. The college process, while exciting, is also scary and overwhelming and translates into even more homework and deadlines. 200 million gallons of waste water contaminated the Chesapeake right before Noa was supposed to plunge into it. Noa quit viola and youth orchestra (though did squeeze in a final concert and recital). They lost their rubber ducky (which was also part of their art project). The Potbelly at Union Station closed.

We did what we could to mitigate the sad times. Teachers were talked to (and Noa, belatedly, worked on advocating for themself). They got a light therapy lamp (albeit at the end of winter and one which takes up their entire desk). Noa did not jump into the Chesapeake, and instead were sprayed by really cold water outside in the middle of winter to support Climate Action. A gelato place opened on H Street.

Because the truth is, sometimes life is really hard and you just have to get through it, even if getting through it isn't always fun. But you don't always have to get through it alone.

So happy birthday, little one. Remember that we're always here for you, Noa, and that we love you so, so much.

1. "Pluck around a little twinkle, twinkle on the piano."
2. Sometimes, if you're young at heart and you work it right, you can still order off the kids' menu.
3. I have a cat.
4. Sapphic love and falling off cliffs are not directly related. They aren't unrelated either, though.
5. Plan B: ferrets.
6. Acting is all about commitment. Unfortunately, that commitment sometimes culminates in a bloody nose.
7. You can't get what you want, particularly if the local coppersmith has never heard of Triton. But sometimes you get what you need (sort of).
8. Let's go, lesbians!
9. You don't need a bunch of role playing rules. Just write a good mystery, draw some cool assets, have a bunch of creative friends, and a Perfect Six will work just fine.
10. And in the immortal words of Nick in Zootopia 2, 

There's a lot of different animals out there, and sometimes we start to look at all of the little reasons that we're not the same. And it makes us worry. But maybe if we just talk to each other, if we just try to understand one another, we would see that our differences don't really make any difference at all. Maybe we even see that what makes me, me, and you, you, can make us even stronger.