Where o' where will we go?

Though the Army has treated us well and thankfully Stephen has never deployed, it hasn't been the best place for Stephen.

Stephen is the kind of a guy who would like to spend all day everyday reading books like the one he just finished "Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition", watching James White debates and debating with Catholics on Facebook.

He is an abstract thinker.

The Army is more a place for do-ers.

He is surrounded by guys who love to work out, watch football and be "hooah".

He longs to be an eternal student/professor.

So he has put in his paperwork to get out of the Army (and go into the Reserves) in September.

This is really exciting and really scary at the same time.

I am so excited for him to start doing what he loves but I am also nervous about not having the wonderful safety net of the Army, and the steady income.

He has applied to 9 grad schools.

Some for a Ph. D. and some for a Masters.

All in either philosophy or political philosophy (and one is environmental philosophy).

We are hoping he gets into a PhD. but they are really competitive and it is difficult since he has been out of school for so long.

Now from my perspective, I don't know much about the different schools but I did care to know about where we might be living for the next 2 (masters) or maybe 6 (Ph.D.) years.

As Stephen started his research into what schools he wanted to apply to and he would tell me where they are located, I got more and more dismayed.

I was hoping for East Coast or West Coast.  Or at least not somewhere in the middle of nowhere or that was really north (cold) or really south (hot).

Nope.

Here is a map with red "X"s that show where he has applied.

Seriously?!

And that Colorado one was a last minute addition so I didn't even have that one to hope for at first.

Now let me say that I have never been to any of those states that are marked and they could be wonderful and I could actually love it.

But based on preconceived notions of these places, I was less than thrilled.

But I have gotten over it and have come to terms with our next big adventure.

I am rooting for Colorado State University and for Notre Dame (Stephen wants Notre Dame too but it is also the hardest one to get into)

I have to admit I have a silly reason for rooting for Notre Dame.

It started when I discovered it's in South Bend, Indiana.

One of my all time favorite movies is "The Philadelphia Story" (Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart, it doesn't get much better than that!)

In that movie James Stewart tells Katherine Hepburn that he is from South Bend, Indiana and she replies with her wonderful Hepburness "South Bend!  It sounds like dancing, doesn't it?"

Silly right?

Oh well.

So now we are waiting to hear back from the schools which is a real test of patience.

There is a chance he wont get into any of them, though I can't imagine that happening since he is obviously a genius, but then again I may be a bit biased :o)

Or maybe he will get excepted to all of them, who knows.

I will keep you updated.