Applications, Road Tests and an LOA…Oh My!

It has been crunch time around here lately…  the boyz all had applications due on November 1, Seamus and Brendan had a road test November 1 and Seamus recently received a Letter of Assurance from the Naval Academy. My world feels as though it is spinning. So let’s start with the latter of these 3 things. A Letter of Assurance is basically an acceptance letter to the United States Naval Academy with the caveat that he still needs to be fully cleared medically (he has cleared most of his medical already) and receive a nomination (he has sent in the recommended 4 nomination applications and is waiting to hear about interviews).  This is pretty big news and while we are so happy for him, there is also a bit of anxiety about the medical /nomination and a whole lot of anxiety about the reality that Seamus may be leaving a few days after graduation for an intense summer, commitment to the military and limited time home from then on.  I have not quite absorbed this new reality – in part because it is not a sure thing yet and in part because I am not ready to. But I have been crying frequently since this news and have such mixed feelings about it all.

Being the parents of multiples is unique and we are often asked the question ‘how do you do it? ‘ and now often ‘how did you do it?’ as people assume the first year was the hardest. Honestly, I have mostly felt like I just have 3 children – they just happen to be the same age. At times that is much easier – especially in the high school season when they have so many activities. We are usually all together as our guys have stuck to the same activities (not a whole lot of options in our tiny town anyway)- that is much easier than others who are running several directions with kids of different ages/sex whose activities are spread out all over.  There were moments when the boyz were babies/toddlers which Steve and I called ‘triplet nights’ or ‘triplet moments’.  This would be maybe when they were sick and would take turns waking at night – so we never had a break…days when they took turns with tantrums and we were exhausted….but this was the exception – not the rule.

This past weekend however , felt like a ‘ triplet weekend’. With three seniors applying to colleges requiring a number of essays each- it was a lot to manage. I have always wondered how people do it – knowing that applying to college is a huge undertaking and kids do this in the midst of already very full lives. It is like Christmas when we take on all of these extra ‘to dos’- shopping, decorating, parties…and add it to our already crazy schedules. But somehow we do it and make it work so I figured, somehow we would do it with the applications, and make it work.  Seamus Brendan and Casey started their application process over the summer as we knew we needed to get a jump start on things. I am so thankful they did as it has still been so intense and the writing has been down to the last minute.  Our intention was to keep the weekend positive and productive, minimizing stress reactions. We did just that and all we can do is hope that they each put in their best application and then it is out of our hands what happens from here.

Hard at work with college essays :-{

We also went down to Glens Falls for Brendan and Seamus to take their road tests on November 1. (It was a huge day in the Tomb house with early aps due and road tests! We like to pile it on apparently 🙂  Steve had taken the boyz car to be inspected and for some reason the emissions part was not passing. He and the wonderful mechanic kept driving it more and more as apparently it just had to decide to ‘click in’ and then would pass.  We stopped on the way down to the road test to see if the extra driving Steve did bringing it home and us driving it back down, made it ‘click in’. The mechanic tested it and it still did not pass but he gave us the form that ensured that the safety part was all set and he said the DMV guy will let them take the test with that form.  We went to the test and waited in a long line of cars (not sure if it is like this everywhere, but here everyone just waits on side of the road which is in residential neighborhood, no building, no place to wait etc – very strange set up !)…we waited over an hour (and past our appointment time) only to be told that no – we could not take the test without a full inspection sticker. UGH – half the day out of school and work and no licenses to show for it :(.  We drove home and again, passed the car place so we had Claude check the emissions again and low and behold – it passed!!!  I gave the boyz the option to go back down to Glens Falls (25 minutes) to try to take the test again. We would likely have arrived at the instructors lunch time and have to wait more so they opted to go back to school as there was a pep rally that afternoon that they did not want to miss (no, they were not just dying to get back for Econ and Calc!)…I gave them credit for their patience as they have waited a long time for their road tests.  I am writing this later to say that on 11/29 we went down and they passed without any glitches! YAY!

Boyz are all happy with two licensed drivers! Casey wants to hold off a bit to take his test but is happy his brothers can chauffeur him around now 🙂