100 things about me - part 2

So, where was I? Oh, yeah, being a nerd in school. Onward:

11. I graduated second in my class in high school. I got into an Ivy League School, but it was a smidge out of my price range.

12. I went to Rhode Island College instead, and I think the education I got was just fine, thank you very much.

13. I majored in physics, so anything you may have heard about a lack of personal attention at a state school does not apply.

14. I'm reasonably sure that during my years at RIC, the physics professors outnumbered the physics majors. And I don't just mean the physics majors in my year, I mean all the physics majors.
The good: lots of individual attention, plus since I was the only graduating physics major in 2002, the departmental award was in the bag.
The bad: many classes had to be independent study. Ever try to learn about quantum mechanics on your own out of a textbook? I don't recommend it.

15. Big Brother was born when I was 19, during my freshman year in college.

16. I vastly prefer the term "surprise" to "accident," or worse, "mistake."

17. J was a chemistry major at RIC at the time, and Big Brother became something of a science department mascot. I would meet people, and they would say, "Oh, you're Big Brother's mom!"

18. We managed a crazy schedule - both of us at school full-time, J at work full-time, and some semesters, me at work part-time. In spite of all that, Big Brother spent most of his time with a parent or grandparent. My mom and J's parents are heroes.

19. We were married in 1999, when Big Brother was a year and a half. It was a perfect day in October.

20. Little Brother came along the next year. Both J and I have siblings close to our own age. I think that is a very special bond, and I wanted it for our children.

More later . . .