visiting yale (lyn)

We awake at 4:15.  It's still dark outside but the birds are already chirping.  I get Alexander up, and by 4:45 we are on our way to Yale, for a Questbridge-sponsored all-day conference. 

My mother’s car is great to drive.  It’s a Lexus SUV and a huge improvement over the car I sold a few years ago, a 1992 Acura Integra.   We start driving and the early morning dusk, coupled with the dullness of I-95, combine to make me very sleepy.  Despite having slept for 6 hours the night before, I feel at risk for dozing off.  About 90 minutes into our 3-hour drive to New Haven, I decide to pull off the highway and pull into a Dunkin’ Donuts.  It’s the fanciest one I’ve ever seen.  Leather couches.  Two sitting areas.  A fireplace, even.  I order coffee and a chocolate glazed donut, something I haven’t eaten since starting WW, but I figure I need both sugar AND caffeine to stay awake.  The coffee is perfect, but the donut isn’t good enough to finish.  Too much guilt in it.  I eat only half.

We arrive at Yale around 8am, and the day is packed with meetings and workshops.  The speakers are great; the topics covered are all helpful (with a surprising absence of redundancy), and the college fair allows Alexander to get a lot of good information and briefly speak to some of the admissions directors from the 29 Questbridge partner schools (all highly selective).

We have a box lunch with the other 45 Edward Fein scholars, or Fein Fellows as they are referred.  While most people are concentrating on the speaker, I am concentrating equally on the lunch options, of which there are few.  I settle for a tuna sandwich on a roll and an apple.  I skip the chips and chocolate chip cookies.  I’m trying to compensate for the early-morning donut lapse.

The day ends with a tour of Yale.  The old architecture, history and academics contribute to making it the most impressive school we’ve seen so far.  It is perfect, and, and it is unlikely that Alexander would be accepted.  But he knows this, so we enjoy the tour, and are on the road by 6:30.

The 3-hour drive home goes by quicker than the exhausting ride there.  Alexander is good company.  We get to the Cape around 9:30 and dinner choices are few, since most restaurants are closed.  I want fast, but not fast food, so we decide on pizza.

I end up eating three slices which must be about 20 points, at least.   I vow that tomorrow I’ll be more careful.  But then tomorrow my mom is making her famous stuffed chicken for Father’s Day and my sister Jean and her family are coming down.

Maybe I’ll have to wait until I’m home to be really good again.