While I’ve been flitting around the cosmos, another more earth-bound journey has been happening chez Guiney. It actually started more than a year ago as I described here. This is the time of year when kids applying to American universities find out where they have and haven’t been accepted, what their fates will be for this next stage of their education.  It’s been a stressful time, as you can imagine.  Being an American-raised parent raising her own children in Britain, I have seen the best and worst of both systems.  The pressure that these kids is put under is horrifying for a parent to watch, and as I discussed over at Trixie’s place, I do have a rather wide subversive streak that at times urged me to scupper the whole thing.  But I held my piece, let the boy get on with it, and I am now absolutely thrilled to be able to say that last night was a big night for Number 2 Son. He learned that he has been accepted to the ivy-covered halls of his dreams!  Needless to say, we’re all thrilled and in hyper-celebratory mode.  But for me, the most important moment of all came when, just before we were all finally able to go to bed, he turned to us and said “It’s so nice to know that all that hard work paid off and wasn’t for nothing.”  Those of us who have been around the track a few times (and especially those of us who are writers) know only too well that the opposite lesson could just as easily have be learned.  The world is not always a meritocracy, and the game of craps gets played with our futures a little too often for my liking.  I do know that there are wonderful kids out there whose hearts’ desire were not filled last night, and I am equally proud of my son when he himself, in the midst of his own celebration, was able to think about, worry about and care for his friends. Lots of lessons to be learned here, I think.