I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance; Never settle for the path of least resistance.” — Lee Ann Womack

If you’ve read my book, or, if you’ve read even the synopsis of my book, you know that there is a letter I wrote which is a central focus of the plot . Yet there is a another letter I received — ten years ago today — which is of equal importance: the acceptance letter to my dream school.

I highly doubt Jerome in admissions remembers me, and truthfully I don’t remember a whole lot of him. I never encountered him during my four years at my dream school, never saw his face. Yet his name will forever be engrained in my mind, the name that sat on the top of that letter, just before the words “Dear Megan, It is my great pleasure to offer you admission to the….”

As I was reflecting on that letter this morning — the moment I read it — it occurred to me that I never wrote one back. I sent in my housing documents, my financial forms, registered for classes, but amidst my jumping and screaming that day, I never sat down to officially “accept” my admission. So I thought I’d do that today — better late than never, right?

Dear Jerome,

It is my great pleasure to accept your offer of admission. Your university is among the best in the land, the campus by far the most beautiful, and I can’t wait to spend four years of my life there.

You should know that I may not always be happy at your school. I’m traveling over 1000 miles away from home, leaving dozens of friends and family members behind, and I’ll likely be homesick, perhaps cry myself to sleep the first few weeks. But I’ll get over it. I’ll figure out how to survive on my own, and make plenty of new friends on campus to help me feel more comfortable.

I promise to take advantage of all the opportunities you give me to me. I’ll get involved on campus, participate in and help organize some of your biggest charity events — Relay For Life, the Dance Marathon. I’ll even offer to be the event chair of one of them, work my tail off recruiting participants, and help to raise the most money of any event before it.

My involvement in these events might make me second guess my major. Right now, I’m thinking business, for sure, but after seeing the kind of impact I’m able to have, I might be compelled to look at areas where I can continue to make a difference in others’ lives. Don’t worry. No matter what, I’ll work hard in my studies, and graduate with a GPA both you and I can be proud of.

I’ll become an even bigger fan of your sports teams while I’m in school. Now, I have to tell you, I’m from the Midwest. It’s going to be tough to fit into your football traditions down there — do you really tailgate on picnic tables? I’ll embrace it as best I can though. I’ll come out and cheer, and if we happen to beat a #4 ranked team my junior year, I’ll rush the field screaming with the rest of the fans.

Basketball should be a bit easier. I know you’ve had a rough year this year — in fact, the worst year your basketball team has ever had. But I bet you’ll get better while I’m at school. I bet those freshman you have coming in with me will be really good. Maybe you can even bring in a new coach to tap into their full potential, maybe the team can even win a title? No, I can’t possibly believe you’d do something like that while I’m a student, that would be far too much to ask for.

I’m going to guess my senior year will be tough, thinking of all the people and memories I’ll leave behind, and how the journey I’m waiting for now is coming to an end. I’ll keep my head up though, and think of all the great things I can do as an alum of your university. I’ll continue to carry both yours’ and my mission forward in every way I can.

Any ways, I just want to thank you for this opportunity, and for you to know how excited I am to attend your school. I look forward to embracing the campus culture, learning everything I can both inside and outside the classroom. It’ll probably be the most incredible experience of my life.

Maybe I’ll even write a book about it someday.