Twenty-Eight Days to Change the World

They had been warned.  They had ALL been warned.  Be on time.  Don’t invoke the wrath of Evil Don by being even a single minute late.  The entire Brown-I cohort—including chaperones—had been advised that they needed to be at El Cerrito High School by 2:45 AM to have their papers checked, their luggage weighed, receive last minute instructions and to say their fond farewells to friends and family.

Having arrived plenty early myself (1:30), I played the waiting game where I mentally guessed who would arrive first and who would test fate by arriving last.

As the headlights of the first car got closer I could see that John “I’m just the Driver” Crosby would take top honors as the first to arrive at 2:21 AM.  The rest followed suit in short order with none of our ILCers giving Evil Don reason to join this party.

Since we’re all in a playful mood, we also play a little game where each ILCer guesses whether they judged the weight of their luggage appropriately.  David Fang must have filled his bags full of helium balloons to make it so light while Ying-An's bag tipped the scale at 47 pounds.  While many ILCers use their bathroom scale to weigh their luggage, Ying-An said he compared his bag to two bags of rice.  I suppose that’s as accurate as the bathroom scale.

With everyone on time and the pre-departure rituals concluded, all that was left was the tearful goodbyes as the airport shuttle took the Brown-I cohort on their first leg towards Providence, Rhode Island.

Now the world awaits as our Brownies consider how their blogs will set the standard for those ILCers who are waiting their turn in the sun.

Apparently, there's a tradition in the Hayashi-Groves family where they howl at the moon when one of their clan leaves for an extended period.  Young Misa--a Vassar gal--resists the urge while her mother and sister Emily revel in this ritual.  They say they have no control over it--it's in their genes.