Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!
I practiced very little today. I did my scales and exercises, and went through the piece one or two times just so I don’t forget anything, but other than that, I just did other stuff. I went shopping this evening to get Beth her present. I got her a present, but she deserves something more special, and I don’t really have any good ideas.
But Sabby did, so she’s going to run with it. She says I work too hard on these kinds of things, and she’s her daughter, so let her have a little fun. Fair.
Liz is over tonight. We did a little practice on her piece (it was nice to play something else), and now we’re just kinda chilling. Liz is pretty chill most of the time. She doesn’t really like drama. It seems to follow some people around, but not her. Well, most of the time. Her parents have been a lot more chill too. They still expect a lot out of her – you can’t take the tiger out of the mom all the time – but they’ve become a lot more accepting of the fact that she needs to do normal teenage stuff too.
She’s… umm… gone farther with her boyfriend than I have with Jack. But she mostly keeps that to herself. I asked her if she regrets it. She said no, but yes. Apparently he’s very gentle and considerate, but… he hasn’t really committed yet, and it makes her a little insecure.
I guess I see why they say to wait.
Commitment is important.
Oh… I got my SAT results back today. I didn’t get the highest score ever, but I did pretty well. Well into the realm of “get into any college I want that cares about such things”. So I sent off my Meiji application today. I think it’ll go well, but I have to jump through the hoops. Good that I can pay for it myself, I guess.
I told my financial manager to make sure that I had enough liquid funds to pay for the four years, because I don’t want to be taken out by a stock market crash. That was Dave’s idea. So I have an investment account that has about half of my net worth, and a bank account with about the other half. I’ll have to investigate how to move some of those funds to Japan, etc., but I guess one thing at a time. I’m so lucky to have that ability – in some ways. The shop is doing really well… Sabby and I are working on finding a larger venue, because larger venues make more money, and our shop is really small for the number of clients. She has a few leads and we’re going to look at them soon. Truth is, while my share in the shop is worth quite a bit more than what I put in, I haven’t seen much of it, both Sabby and I are reinvesting. That’s alright. I’ve got plenty. And I believe in what we’re doing.
Jack got his SATs back too. He did well. My scores are a little higher, but his are still good enough to not get in his way. He’s considering applying to some pretty good colleges in the midwest. It’s where he’s from, after all.
Beth got her practice SAT scores as well. She blew me out of the water – if the scores had been real. I’m not surprised. She’s always been far smarter than me.
And Liz… hers were almost as good as Beth’s.
It hasn’t quite hit that we’re all going to be going our separate ways this fall. I’m (hopefully) going to Japan, Jack’s going somewhere in the midwest, Liz… I don’t know where she’s going, but it’s going to be a dang good school… Beth’s going to be home, but all of us won’t… you know that scene in K-on where all the girls are against the wall and talking about all the fun they’ll have next year, and then it hits and they all start crying? It might be like that. It’s not yet, but.. it might be like that.
Sabby says that graduation is the closing of one era of your life and the opening of another… but I like this era. I like spending time with all my friends and not worrying about anything but studying and practicing, and all the fun things I get to do with my family and friends….. and it’s all going to go away soon. Just a matter of months now.
I won’t lie. The thought hurts. It hurts a lot.
But there are very few people who haven’t experienced the exact same thing. Right? I guess it’s what Dave calls a rite of passage.
Think happy thoughts, Lily. It’s still months away. Think happy thoughts. It’s just sweat. I’m just sweating. From the eyes.