The summer hasn’t started yet and I’m already knee-deep in college preparations for Jake. We’ve signed up for his classes, laughed through his Mandarin placement test (all a guess to him), and decided that he should study simplified characters rather than traditional ones because he plans on studying in China, not Hong Kong or Taiwan.

I found this old photo, taken in the year 2000, not far from the NYU campus. I took Jake for a long weekend to visit friends in New York. I’d only been separated for 5 weeks at this point and hadn’t told my estranged husband that Jake and I were in New York. Everything was up in the air then. I didn’t know if I could stay in Chicago or if I would have to return to San Francisco. Visiting friends in New York was a nice distraction.

So it only seems fitting that Jake will return to the West Village (he’s been back quite a few times since then), now with the blessings of all his parents and grandparents.

It seems like there’s a years’ worth of trips and activities before college starts, but at least he has his class selection out of the way.

Happy Friday!