it's dr. lloyd, actually

From Tufts, 3 hours after my interview:

Dear Joanna,
I wanted to be the first to say congratulations on your acceptance to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. I also wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed interviewing you. You offer a lot to the veterinary field and it is obvious that any school that you accept will be fortunate. My wishes are that it will be Tufts!
I also wish you a happy holiday season. Again congratulations and I consider myself lucky to have been your interviewer.

Sincerely,
*** *********



so i guess the interview went well.

OH MY GOD!
I GOT INTO VET SCHOOL!
HOLY SHIT MAN, IT'S FOR REAL!

this is better than my two front teeth

waiting

so it'ws 6:39am and I'm getting ready to shower and get dressed for my vet school interview at tufts. I will make it to teh interview, come hell, high water or nor'easter, but my plans after that are more ambiguous and based on the weather will probably involve my returning to acton for a solo night of TV watching (while my relatives attend holiday parties). I suppose i'm nervous right now and i certainly wish it wasn't about to snow. but i'm getting ready for a vet school interview and i need to let that hope sort of seep into me.

in other good news: i found out on wednesday that I got an interview at penn vet (january 16th baby!). so i'm excited about that too.

maybe it's the hour, maybe it's my first night in a long time without kitten and carbon, maybe it's the snow, maybe it's just that it's actually happening--my life, that thing i've been waiting for for so long.

i can remember walking into greenlawn and thinking "when is my real life going to start" and despite philosophical quandaries since then, i feel like maybe this is it. i've been working toward vet school for 3 years now (not to mention working toward grad school and college since the moment my umbilical cord was snipped). so this is it and the dull feeling in my head it the early hour, sadness that i won't see my friends and maybe, just maybe, the first thrill of real hope that this is it--my real life starting.

and i know, i'll look back and say "silly joey, your real life was happening all the time" and i think that it is, but by 'real life' i think i mean 'adult career' -- when you find what you want to do for the rest of your life (not just watch tv and make earrings).

i have these moments when i just think my life is so rich--lying in bed at home taking a nap with carbon when she stretches out and puts her head right on top of my head. Seeing kitten lying in his cat bed and the birds in their play zones, the bad bunny imprisoned under my bed. It's so rich. There are pieces missing of course, but no one's life is totally full.

this has been fairly rambling and that's not surprising, since it's mostly way for me to blow off steam until i take my shower and put on my 'interview outfit' (the construction of which has occupied the better part of the last three weeks).

damn the torpedos, full steam ahead.

joy

i am feeling joyful. i just got home from a long day at work -- 11 hours of busy patients and I brought carbon to work with me.

but i feel joyful.

i have been feeling very stressed this last week, like having a dog was more than i could handle, the endless poop/pee accidents, carbon eating things she shouldn't, the constant attention.

but now i feel joyful. because i love her, and she is growing up and is a wonderful dog. i'm so excited about my tufts interview, i'm excited about wearing my cute outfit and seeing my friends in boston, it's all so good.

school is over for a month, i can take time to really focus on carbon, cleaning my room and playing with the other pets (kitten, the birds).

but i just wanted to say this: i am joyful and my life is rich.