Breaking Grad

As I sit and reflect on the last six months, I find it hard to describe.

Simply put I’ve been in the middle of a tornado. I guess it’s been a good thing because I keep forgetting to have a meltdown.

Where should I start? Perhaps a few weeks before Christmas break when my son decided not only did he want to go to college but also looked into the prospect of playing tennis at college level.

These are typically goals reserved for kids starting high school but really last minute is our jam so I went with what we could do.

Immediately we began work on 1. Athletic profile 2. Scholarships 3. Visits to School(s) 4. Finishing academics on a high note 5. etc. etc.

Did I mention right around this time my job shifted adding more responsibility, Carlee was finishing cheerleading and dance, AND every spare minute was taken up as we all survived on a diet of Chick-Fil A tenders and fountain cola!?!

If not, let me just add that part real quick.

(If you notice how puffy I look, please be kind and ignore it.)

9th grade

12th grade

Once Connor was 'uploaded' to his athletic profile, he began to get interest from all over the place- Tennessee, Charlotte, New York (no thank you), and even Europe. I guess people are looking for players. Navigating the different divisions and who could and couldn’t offer scholarship money was a real learning curve for our family. The whole process was a very interesting experience.

Connor’s first choice in college was a private school in Charlotte that offered his specific major. They also offered him a spot on the tennis team! Sadly they were unable to offer money.

It just wasn’t feasible for us to make this choice. I still don’t understand why private schools are triple and quadruple the cost of state schools. It all seems so insane to me.

Connor’s first offer came from Southwestern Community College. It was a really beautiful campus that offered housing for athletes. The coach was energetic and I loved the idea of Connor starting at community college. I support community colleges. Even though the tuition was out of state, an athletic scholarship offered would help cover costs.

The double rainbow on our way was a sign - this would be a great choice!

Returning home, scholarships started happening for our guy.

God was giving us all we needed at the right time. We began to juggle the week, the tennis schedules, the jobs, the deadlines, and the senior events.

Things were looking final…..

UNTILLLL Southwestern started to “ghost” us. We called and emailed financial aid, the coach, we put Connor’s name on the dorm list, anddddd…..

never got anything back.

To make it all the more challenging, graduation was approaching and all of Connor’s scholarship foundations had checks with deadlines and no school to cash in!!

And then God provided the REAL plan A.

Do I dare doubt Him?

(I was only sweating a little.)

A college coach reached out. He had read Connor’s athletic profile and watched his videos. He was from a small, private Christ centered school in the mountains of NC and was building a new tennis team. The problem was the connection was a bit lost. The coach was from Peru, and we were all trying to listen via FaceTime and speaker phones from our jobs, and things didn’t feel very clear. Looking at the cost of tuition, it just didn’t seem like anything that would be an option anyway.

UNTILLLLL the assistant coach called us a week later. This time we were more open to the expectations and Connor was offered an athletic and academic scholarship to attend. Our interest peaked but we were still not ready to make any decision.

EXCEPTTT we had 2 weeks until graduation, scholarship deadlines, and Connor was STILL playing tennis.

Our boy played at #2 in over 20 matches in both singles and doubles. He achieved all regional, all conference, and all state. We were driving three matches a week in crazy spring weather, sometimes driving for over two hours in the evenings one way.

This girl was a trooper.

We dragged Carlee to every crook and corner of the state for Connor and she was amazing. Our diets were awful, my paperwork was backing up in my suitcase (aka. A big ole’ box), our showering schedule was questionable, and I was afraid that Carlee was going to fail social studies because I was always pulling her out early.

Still I’m proud of our family. It took all four of us but we worked together and met almost all of our deadlines.

YAY for a good family unit.

The FINAL Countdown:

ONE week before graduation, we finally got to visit the school. It was beautiful, spiritual, and peaceful. The coaches were really awesome. They were encouraging and supportive but intense and goal oriented.

Things were looking great…

UNTILLLL we met with financials and learned they made a mistake. They could not offer both an academic and athletic scholarship at the same time, so we ended up with a sum bigger than we were willing to pay for a freshman (y’all know I love community college).

We were really debating about the finances when the next day Connor got an email for one last scholarship…..

the exact amount needed to cover tuition.

God was like “hold my living water Connor”.

(Come ON, even that topped the double rainbow.)

As they say, the rest is history. Within the next three days, we had a ‘Sign On’ day where the coaches met us at his high school, graduation practice, graduation DAY, and a graduation dinner.