A Very Special Day

Our grandson, the one who just returned from Ethiopia, was asked to visit to NYC to see about applying to graduate school (at a consortium of schools) in anthropology. The interview was to take place at the Museum of Natural History (one of our and his favorite places.)  

He went to NYC last week and met with the people and 7 other candidates from across the United States for the two openings in grad school. He learned where he would be taking classes and attending labs, and suffice it to say he was eager to learn and happy to be there. 

Among the questions they asked him was how he felt about the possibility of living in New York City. He replied that his grandfather was from there, his aunt had lived there and he had visited a number of times, so he felt comfortable with it. 

He returned to Raleigh on Saturday evening and told us all about it; excited and proud to be in the group of possible students.  We were all so proud of him and happy for him.

Sometime on Sunday he got a call from one of the professors, asking if he was the J_____C____ (person of the same name) who had been arrested in NC sometime recently. He told them that he had never even had a traffic ticket, let alone been arrested! That scared us all; not knowing if they would be able to determine that he was not a criminal in time for the selection process. 

But apparently they learned the truth, because he was selected to attend grad school there next fall. Can you say "PROUD GRANDMA?"  This kid carried a huge hard-backed book about prehistoric animals and dinosaurs around when he was 4-5-6, memorized the dinosaur's names and even slept with the book and hard plastic animals for a few years. He talked about them to anyone who would listen.  It seems inevitable that he went on to study bones and body morphology with such zeal. 

J_____, we could not be more proud of you or happy for you! We know you will go far in life and in your field. Good luck in the future!