The worst part was telling my mom and Gram about my unhappy predicament. I couldn’t stand the thought of causing them any more anxiety or pain. They had always been there for me, ready to help me out in any circumstances because they loved me so much. (That’s not to say they didn’t let me know often enough when they were upset with me, but they were both able to show anger without withdrawing love.) And now they came through for me again, offering to scrape together another $5,000 between them whenever I was ready for it. I’d say this was definitely a gift I didn’t deserve.