touring duke (lyn)

We wake up and grab a quick breakfast.  Our hotel is only slightly better than the one we left last night.   But it does have a restaurant.  Our waitress epitomizes southern hospitality.  I order hot tea (plain) and a dry English muffin with jelly on the side. “I’m sorry ma’am, but we’re out of tea this morning.”  She senses my surprise, and then tells a detailed story to explain the shortage. I smile.  I don’t want her to think that Northerners are rude.  We eat quickly and head over to Duke.  It’s big and beautiful.  Already we are all falling in love.  We go to an hour information session, then tour the campus. It looks a lot like Princeton, after which it’s modeled.  None of us can find one thing we don’t like about the school.  The kids.  The academics.  The sports.  The spirit.  The grounds.   Everything is perfect.  Many of the buildings look old (the elite kind of ivy-league old) but feel new (modern facilities, clean, and high-tech).  It’s not a train ride away, which I’d prefer, but the flight is just over an hour.  Already Zelia and I are picturing our kids here.  For a while anyway, we all imagine that getting into this school is a possibility.  It’s a spectacular, sunny, high seventy-degree day.  We eat outside and even the food is good.  I have an ahi-tuna sandwich for lunch and find it totally satisfying.  We spend probably too much time in the bookstore and the boys get  Duke sweatshirts and T-shirts.  In case they get in, they’ll have something to wear.