Press Send.

Here is Mary early Monday morning...beaming with happiness and excitement.

Why?

She has just hit the send buttons and sent her applications on to the college admissions powers that be.
Boom... she has officially applied.
Mary has been sweating out these applications for months and months... writing and rewriting essays and supplements until she was certain that they were her very best work.

 And they were. 

But she was still nervous to "press send." 

So she called in her applying to college support team... the dear counselors in the high school admissions office, who stood by her as she pressed those buttons and then kindly photo documented the experience to send to mom. 

After those buttons were pressed,  Mary and her super supportive team, celebrated with an orange juice toast.
While only time will tell of Mary's future (she has windy city aspirations, while I lean more Buckeye) I am proud of my dear daughter for working so diligently on something that was difficult but important.