I am usually an encourager on this forum and don't want to seem insensitive. My heart goes out to all these amazing young men and women who received The Worst Emails, and I understand the sadness and embarrassment in having to report the bad news to all the people who put effort into their nomination process and SA applications. However, one of the biggest lessons we can teach our kids about life is how to deal with disappointment, not try to control the circumstances surrounding the delivery of that disappointment.
There were many disappointed kids on Tuesday, and my DD was one of them. I didn't share it in Tuesday's post, but she got a double whammy with a TWE from the USAFA the same day. She got the USNA news in class and forwarded me the email while I was on a field trip with my first graders. How many tears did we shed? None. Did either of us leave school? No. Did we wait till we got home and then fall apart? Not that, either. Does that mean attending a SA meant less to my DD than any of the other kids here? Absolutely not. It means that (despite many other shortcomings in our parenting!) we have prepared our DD adapt to whatever life throws her way - and that seems to be a pretty good trait to have in preparation for a career in the military.
My DD immediately looked for the good in the situation. She was glad she didn't have to hold out hope for another month when the answers would still be no. She contacted her BGO (and LLO) to thank them for their efforts on her behalf this year and to let them know she wants to work with them on a plan for reapplying next year. Her girlfriends were crying and couldn't figure out why she wasn't, but then again, that's just more evidence that my DD has the strength to acknowledge a situation and move forward with what needs to be done. Granted, she still has an application in at the USCGA, but rather than putting all her hopes into that so that the final letdown is huge, she has further steeled herself for a TWE from them as well. (Not that she isn't a plenty strong candidate, mind you; we just acknowledge that the competition seems particularly fierce this year when even kids like 5Day get passed up.)
I get that when we humans can't control a particular situation, we seek out other situations we can control. At this point, however, modeling a matter-of-fact approach to adapting to the coming year is probably a more productive use of time than contacting the Navy about the timing of their emails.
BTW, I do know how to cry...while holding the hand of my dad (28 years Army) when he passed a couple of years ago, I cried like a baby. When my DD gets commissioned, I know I'll be crying then, too. When she gets a TWE? Nah, just time to enact the next plan.