The Ten Day MBA

It has been his dream since our earliest newly wedded days.

"I want to go to business school, I want to get my MBA, I want to do something...big" he told me.

I didn't know what "big" meant. I still don't, only he does. But I did know that a red book titled "The Ten Day MBA" sat on his nightstand and his head was full of dreams. 

It takes a lot more than ten days to earn an MBA. 

It takes finishing five years we owe the Navy. 

Long. Five. Years.

It takes saving. 

Lots. Of. Saving. 

It takes studying for the GMAT.

Lots. Of. Studying. 

It takes not sleeping a wink the night before he takes the GMAT, because I'm staying up late making him a  poster to hang on the door he'll see in the morning. The poster says "Go Get 'Em Tiger!" 

It takes a phone call that nearly sends me into tears of ecstasy when he calls to tell me he just scored a 760 on his GMAT (My Tiger got 'em!) and now his chances of going to business school are real. Really, real. And he comes home with flowers for me, me, thanking me for supporting him. 

It takes filling out admissions forms, and writing essays. And those tears do come when he writes about me in an essay that asks "What matters most to you?" 

It takes debating schools and wondering where he'll get in, and if he'll get in, and I want to live in sunny California and he wants to venture forth to the East Coast. And that big looming question we all ask hangs over our heads "What next? Where next?"

And it takes waiting. 

Lots. Of. Waiting.

And today, Harvard sends out their first round of e-mails either inviting prospective students  for an interview or "releasing them from the process." 

Josh is waiting for his e-mail.

I'm waiting for a phone call.

Because somehow, somewhere in the last six years of marriage, between that book on his nightstand and dream in his head, it wasn't just his dream anymore. It was ours. My dream, became seeing his dream come true. 

This is his journey. His quest. His epic tale to tell. 

But I see it in his eyes, I hear it in his voice, I feel it emanating from his heart, he's asking...

Are you proud of me?

Do you believe in me?

Does this earn your respect?

I want to give you the world.

Because I love you!

And this is all for you

Everything I have,

Everything I dream,

Everything I am,

Is for you."

It takes a lot more than ten days to earn an MBA.

It takes love.

Lots. Of. Love.