The Night My Daughter Lost Her Dream

On Friday, the youngest helped me clean out my closet. It was no small task, but tedious work always goes better with a friend. With her ever critical eye, she helped me sort through what to keep, what she should keep, and what we should give away. In the midst of it all, we played a little dress up.

a twenty-year old uniform

I can promise you this, if I had my wedding dress, I would have put that on her just for fun, too. As it is, that once-in-a-lifetime gown is tucked safely away at the parents' house. It's a good thing. I can only imagine how many times I would have dressed up on my own just for fun.

Back to the closet clean-up.

We loaded up three, no four bags of clothes destined for the Goodwill truck. After dropping off our treasures to the nice man in the midst of the pouring rain, we agreed on a place to grab a quick bite to eat. It was here that her dreams were shattered. In retrospect, we should've went some place else.

She was decked out in an Air Force Academy t-shirt and comfy pants. We had just settled into a booth when an older man approached us, his focus all on her. I had my plastic fork ready to gouge out his eyes if need be while I patiently waited to discern his motive. It didn't take long.

"You in the Air Force Academy?"

No.

"You want to go to the Air Force Academy?"

Maybe.

"Impossible. Will never happen. Might as will end it now."

Okay, okay.... so that's not what he really said, but it pretty much sums it up. He proceeded to tell her the Academy is the hardest to get into (Google says different); mathematics is ALL they care about (Air Force Academy website says different); and if she had any hope whatsoever of even having anyone look at her application, she had best work for Congressman So-And-So and only choose that liberal *bleep* if she had no other choice.

And once again, maybe the liberal *bleep* remark is exaggerating the truth just a bit, but trust me, I'll not put to print the exact words that were said. Through all of this, I sat a little amused and very much amazed at the composure of my daughter. She kept a smile on her face, nodded every now and then, and pretty much just sat through this man's (albeit well-intentioned) tirade. Then she said four simple words:

Thanks for the encouragement.

I thought I was going to choke on my breaded, deep-fried chicken strip. Her words oozed sarcasm while the  smile on her face stayed in place. I thought, My God, that's what I sound like. I didn't know whether to cringe or high-five her. It really was a beautiful (?) moment.

The man left us in peace for a while only to come back to reiterate (in a thankfully shorter version) everything he had previously said. We laughed. We ate. We left. As we ran through the still-pouring rain to our van, we rehashed everything that had just happened on our ride home. I asked her if the Air Force Academy was still on her list of dream places for college.

Yes. Yes it is still on my list, Mom.


Crazy old man.