Good Friday has always held a spot near and dear in my heart. You see, it was on this day many year ago I received my acceptance letter to Mount Holyoke. The story is actually quite funny.

My Mom went to the mail and saw the package: an express overnight envelope. For anyone who knows a thing or two about college acceptance, a big package is a very good thing. She was so excited she quickly made her way to Beautiful People, a little boutique I worked at my senior year of high school (my shopaholic tendencies started early). Since it was one of those first gorgeous spring days and we had a half day of school, my boss said to take the afternoon off, which meant I could join my friends for lunch. I must have missed my Mom by no more than 10 minutes. Now remember, this is well before cell phones so I didn’t give my Mom the courtesy call that plans had changed as I figured I would just head home after lunch. The magical part of this story is that there were two Mount Holyoke alums in the shop at the precise moment she was relaying the good news to my boss… that a large envelope had arrived for me. They wouldn’t possibly send a rejection letter overnight, would they? The exact question my Mom asked. Love her.

I decided to walk home that afternoon as I wanted to take in every moment of the arrival of spring. As I turned into the driveway I saw my Mom in the garden and she told me I had received a letter from Mount Holyoke. I said “big or small” and she didn’t answer. I ran in, saw it, opened it and in that moment knew my life would change forever. Earlier that week I received the dreaded rejection letter from Davidson, my top choice. This acceptance quickly eased those wounds. I ran outside with tears in my eyes and was beyond words. In those moments I knew that Good Friday was always gonna be a good day in my book. As I shared before, my years at Mount Holyoke were some of the best. I wouldn’t trade them for the world. It turned out exactly as it was meant to. My mom later confessed that she may have opened the package. I guess she is as impatient as me at times.

And friends, on this Good Friday I am more hopeful than ever that life is revealing itself to me just as it should be. Have faith. Trust yourself and believe in magic for as Roald Dahl reminds us “… watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”