colgate and hamilton (lyn)

We’re on a tour of Colgate by 8:15.  It may be the most beautiful campus we’ve seen so far.  Uniformed stone buildings everywhere.  Rolling greens in between.  Even a small body of water.  Very nice dorms.  Great academics.  Jean and I would be happy to enroll tomorrow.  The kids are more reserved in their enthusiasm.

Following the tour is an information session.  The silliest question asked is posed by a prospective student from Washington DC.  “What about crew?  Can that help in the admissions process?” 

The kids both have interviews at Colgate.   We are back in the car by 11:30 for our 30-minute drive over to Hamilton College in nearby Clinton.  We arrive minutes before for their information session begins.  Soon after stepping foot on campus, Sally falls head-over-heels in love with the school, and Alexander is very much in like.  Similar to Colgate, Hamilton is also on beautiful grounds, and although small in student population, feels large in size.

By the time we finish the info session, the tour, the interview, and the visit to the bookstore, everyone is beyond hungry.  It’s 3pm, and we still haven’t had lunch.

We drive into town and the place recommended to us is not open until dinner. So we stop at a nearby bakery that also has lunch-food.  Not a good idea.  The menu is limited to quiches and a small chicken pot pie, which I order, thinking it has to be less caloric than the quiche. But if it is, it can’t be by much.  I eat that, and then everyone gets a half-moon cookie (also known as black and whites in New York). We are told this cookie was actually invented here in Clinton and this bakery is a master maker of them.  I have never had a better cookie.  Ever.

We all pile back in the car, enthusiastic from having seen two schools that everyone liked.  It’s a long ride back to Jean’s in Medfield, Massachusetts.  By the time we arrive, it’s 9:30 and we are of course hungry.  No one feels like dealing with a big dinner, and no one feels like having to do any dinner-prep.  The obvious solution is pizza.

We call ahead and order an onion pizza and a Greek salad at a local pizza place.  I ONLY have two pieces.  It’s greasy, oozing with cheese, and probably about 12 points a slice. 

While eating, Sally says to me, “Auntie Lyn, you eat a lot for someone who’s on Weight Watchers.”

She is stating the obvious, and could have rhetorically added but didn’t, “Can you stay thin by eating pesto pasta with chicken and two homemade brownies on Monday night, a burger and fries on Tuesday night, and now two big pieces of this gooey pizza tonight?”  

I go to bed feeling guilty.