Tuesday, March 1, 2011

COSTCO is as good a place as any . . .

to find out that - - - -

this awesome poet extraordinaire, who happens to be my brother :), is going to


STANFORD University for the next two years! Not only that but he is going there


with the Wallace Stegner fellowship! (FYI, picture is of the man himself, Stegner!)

There we were - my mother, my father and me, huddled around my cell phone in anticipation of what the grand news could be. Gabriel had called not one minute earlier and asked if I was with mom and dad and if we had heard, "Heard what?" I asked.
"Mario's news! It. Is. Big! Call him right now," he hung up without saying goodbye and we were left wondering if he had gotten into the U of U's doctorate program, little did we know it would be greater than that. I pulled our cart over to the side, dialed with the speakerphone and there we stood, next to bulk semi-sweet chocolate chips and across the aisle from the extra-virgin olive oil, "What's your news?!" I asked. He chuckled and asked how we knew he even had news (he should have known that news travels fast amongst the Chard clan, especially good news because if there is anything we are always ready for - it's a celebration:)
"I got the Wallace Stegner fellowship at Stanford!" Cheers erupted from our little corner of the Costco world and people stared as if we were crazy but we couldn't have cared less because in that moment we were in Lafayette Indiana with Mario, Wendy and Ethan and nothing else mattered.
I yelled out at random strangers, "My brother is going to STANFORD!" It was one of the funnest things I've gotten to do in a while and Costco was as good a place as any for that type of news:) The odds of recieving this amazing fellowship are less than 1% - incredible, right? I think I have a less than 1% chance of getting invited to Will and Kate's wedding or winning a million dollars or even becoming Kanye's back up singer, and that's really nothing that you want to be seeing anyway - but this, this is cool.
Mario, Wendy and Ethan - - - - we love you. we are so excited for this new adventure and we know it could not have taken place were it not for the unflinching and sacrificing support of Wendy and Ethan for the hard working, Mario. Mars, I know that what you have received in your life so far has come through dedication and hard work and I am grateful to you for that unyielding example!
Congrats my favorite Indiana family! You deserve it!

1 comment:

MC said...

Thanks, Sis. I don't know if I deserved it, but I'll take it anyway! Can't wait to spend the summer at home.