First Steps to College

It was my sophomore year of high school when I realized that my mother and I had very different plans for post-high-school plans. I went to St. Paul Academy, so was thinking of small private colleges. My mom had basically just assumed I would go to the U of M, because that's what you do. It wasn't until several arguments ("Why am I even GOING to a prep school then?!"), and my mom attending a conference hosted at Princeton, that we came to agreement. I have to say that after that my mother worked really hard to make sure I could go to the college I wanted to, and when my big fat package (complete with financial aid) arrived for Tufts, she made sure I could go. She also made me understand, though, that I had to have a work study job, and earn tuition over the summer, and apply for scholarships.I don't know if she missed me as badly as I already miss Beatrix, and clearly I can't ask.I do know that, maybe because of that history, it was important to me that Beatrix was able to go to a…