Edit 15: Orange You Glad To Finally Know?
We’ve been sitting on this news for a while and have zero regrets.
There are moments in parenthood when you want to shout news from the rooftops (but don’t).
You pause, celebrating quietly, just the family, before deciding when and how the rest of the world gets to know.
We’ve been sitting on something pretty amazing.
Not because we had to, but because we wanted to (and because savoring good news is half the fun). It was too good to rush. While we did eventually share with immediate family and one or two close friends, this has stayed tucked away for weeks, the announcement growing sweeter by the day until it felt right to say it out loud. Now we’re ready.
Jackson was accepted to Syracuse University!
I’ve found myself returning again and again to the same feeling since we received those emails mid-December: excitement, gratitude, and a healthy dash of awe.
We’ve been keeping this news to ourselves for well over a month. Jackson was accepted through Early Decision-a moment that despite its name could not arrive early enough. Syracuse is not an easy ‘yes’ to earn; it’s a place known for its rigor, reputation, and the way it asks students to think critically, create boldly, and belong to something larger than themselves. Knowing that he was chosen, that his work and his voice stood out in a pool of extraordinary candidates, has filled us with so much pride.
What makes this moment especially meaningful is that this wasn’t a sudden decision. He had an instinct about Syracuse the moment he met a recruiter during the beginning of his sophomore year-an unshakeable sense of rightness-and he stuck to it.
He just…knew, and he trusted that feeling.
That took a lot of bravery on his part because Syracuse was practically unknown to him; he didn’t grow up hearing about it, he’d never been, and even though he knew his sister had applied 8 years before because of their top-notch journalism school, she didn’t attend, so there wasn’t some pre-planned map drawn out for him to follow.
We may be Ole Miss Rebels on both sides of the family, but something in him recognized the possibility at Syracuse, and he has been chasing it ever since.
As parents, this required something from us that, at the time, we had to work on: trusting the assurance of a 15 year old. We had to take a step back from what we knew and listen when he said he knew. We had to allow his certainty to lead, even when it had long been our role to guide, protect, and sometimes question. This “letting go” didn’t happen all at once, of course-it happened in moments like this, when you choose faith over fear and believe that they truly do know more than we realize.
In taking this path, Jackson chose something entirely his own. A direction different from anyone in our family. Watching him trust that inner knowledge-especially at an age when certainty is rare-has been such a gift. He didn’t borrow a dream-he made way for his own.
This acceptance isn’t just about a school or a destination, though. It represents years of hard work and growth: late nights and early mornings, moments of self-doubt met with perseverance. It’s curiosity that slowly turned into confidence. He was-and still is-a young man learning how to stand on his own sense of direction.
We are so proud of him-not only for where he’s headed, but for how he’s arrived here: with self-assurance, wit, and the courage to chart new territory.
So we’re celebrating with deep gratitude for what has been, and trust for what comes next. Loving your children is learning again and again when to hold them close, and when to step back just enough to let them move forward. And for our youngest, here he goes…
Orange you glad to now be in the know?
Because we are!
Congratulations, Jackson! We love you and are so excited for you and what lies ahead.
