My son is at that point. You know. The serious one. The needs help one. THE COLLEGE ESSAY.

I worked as an editor for years, and I am comfortable editing most things. I wanted, more than anything, to go to Columbia University when I was a kid. I toured it with my beloved Uncle Erwin when I was 13. He was an adjunct professor there, and he died of AIDS three years later. I wrote a note on my bedroom wall in 9th grade: GET AN A IN MATH IF YOU WANT TO GO TO COLUMBIA.

Reader, I didn’t get in. I wrote my essay MYSELF on WHAT I WANTED TO WRITE ABOUT (romance novels and how reading this underrated literature helped my vocabulary, SAT scores, and writing style) and THEY WERE LIKE, NO WAY. Or that’s how I read the no.

ANYWAY — I feel like I didn’t get into a fancy school — I didn’t apply anywhere else, and ended up going to a state school that my mom chose and applied to on my behalf. So how can I help HIM get into a fancy school?

But, I worry that is just making it all about me, so we sit down, together, and start to work on his essay. Fingers crossed!