"Previously on Everwood..." "It's from Juilliard." "It's my evaluation from the summer program." "Basically I failed." "I mean I know what you're going through, my report card last year was terrible." "It's not a report card, Amy." "This is my entire life – my whole plan an-and it's falling apart." "Andy Brown, I would like you to meet my husband, John." "I know all the treatments, Andy." "All the drugs." "Five years can make a big difference." "Just give me one month." "I'm scared." "Tell us about yourself in such a way that we will have a good sense of who you are." "500 words." "I wish you would've asked me that two years ago," "I could've told you exactly who I was, who I'd be." "Two years ago I knew it all and the thing is I was right." "How far is that from Juilliard?" "What, NYU?" "It's like 50 blocks." "You can walk it with a good pair of shoes." "That's not bad, what else you got?" "Sarah Lawrence." "It's in Bronxville." "It's about 40 minutes outside of the city by train, but apparently they are very tattoo-friendly, so that's good." "Is this too much?" "I told you that I was only applying to schools that were close to your conservatories and now you're actually hearing me and... you're actually freaking out." "No, I was just thinking that 40 minutes is pretty far." "And now I like you again." "Well, think about it, end of the year all the other couples are going to be freaking out about the long distance thing and we'll be set." "Exactly and it's not like New York and Boston don't have the best schools anyways." "It's like you're a genius sometimes." "I know." "I could do journalism at Columbia," "NYU has the best theater," "Tufts has the best pre-med." "Ephram Brown?" "The Guidance Counselor's office asked me to call you down." "What for?" "Hey," "Chris Templeman." "I'm a recruiter from Colorado AM." "Well, I hate to tell you, but I, uh, don't really play any sports." "They don't even let me go to games." "I'm with our Music department." "We try to keep an eye out for the local talent, like the sports guys do." "I hear that you're applying to schools now." "Let me guess: uh, Juilliard, Berklee College of Music and ...?" "That's it." "Guess you're sleeping well." "No, I don't mean to be, uh, y'know, I mean it's, very cool just to be asked." "Uh, but, uh, I'm-I'm pretty set on going to Juilliard." "It's kinda the place to be." "Don't be so sure." "Take it from me." "You went to Juilliard?" "Class of '81." "Wow." "Think of it this way:" "You go there, you come out knowing a lot about actually playing of piano." "And that's it." "You come out of our program and you have top-notch technical training." "And that's worth something out there in the job world, trust me." "Look, I appreciate all this, but I'm pretty set with my plan." "You're seventeen," "I don't know how you can be expected to know how you're gonna fee I ten years from now." "Or thirty." "I mean, you're ready to say that this is what you want to do for the rest of your life?" "It never hurts to explore your options." "Talk it over with your parents." "If you feel like coming down," "I'll get you on the tour." "Think about it." "Plans are like candy to the Fates." "The only thing you could ever be sure of is, nothing ever goes the way you imagined." "I should probably be used to that by now." "Everwood 3x06 "Shoot the Moon"" "What are you doing and why are you still here?" "One answer for both questions." "I'm fixing you breakfast." "Waffles, muffins, brownies, too." "Though technically that's more dessert than breakfast, but who's gonna arrest me?" "Don't mean to be ungrateful but shouldn't you be driving a bus load of screaming kids to school?" "Not today." "What's the matter?" "Are you sick?" "Even better, I quit." "You what?" "I told 'em, I want to retire, they said okay." "No more bus, no more driver." "I'm done." "These are waffles of celebration." "I'm gonna open some champagne." "You keep that cork where it is." "Since when do we make life decisions around here without a consult?" "It was spur of the moment." "I thought it;" "I said it." "They pulled out the papers." "But I gotta tell ya, I never slept better." "And that's the end of it?" "Be happy for me, Edna, have a waffle?" "You eat it." "Oh, come on, Edna." "Sorry, bucko, some of us still got a job to get to." "Oh, please, don't mean, you didn't read all of this just for us." "Oh, you need to get out more." "Maybe join Netflix." "Are you kidding?" "Research is half the fun of the job." "Now I can say cognitive neurorehabilitation at parties." "You just made my guest list." "Actually..." "I'm amazed at the depth of research into stroke recovery especially with patients with long term aphasia like your husband." "Has anyone ever mentioned music therapy to you before?" "I don't think so." "Well, if you're willing, I would like to give it a try." "I want to build a structured music plan in your home." "Music plan?" "And it's basically what it sounds like." "We load up your 50 CD changer, then we keep the music playing at regular intervals." "And from what I understand, the first priority is consistent stimulation and apparently music is the best kind." "Uh, Schubert, Hyden, no Skynrd, huh?" "Uh, uh." "And you think this will help?" "Yes, I really do." "You know how, uh, overeager parents are always playing Mozart for their babies?" "The crazy ones." "Yes, it's the same principles actually." "We have found out that the human brain is much more malleable than we ever thought it was." "Connections form and strengthen constantly in response to environment." "Now, the more stimulated the environment..." "The more the connections." "Hopefully." "At least it's a start." "I've had starts before." "I know you have." "I know you have." "Your husband's been nonresponsive for 5 years and I know how hard it must be for you to think about treatment at this point, but I have to tell you that I wouldn't put this out to you" "if I didn't think that this was a way in." "Worst thing that could happen is you load up your CD collection." "Come on, what do you say?" "Why do I get the feeling that you're gonna keep asking me until I say yes?" "Because you are getting to know me." "Amy, would you come here please?" "Yeah?" "Whoa." "Amy Abbott, allow me to be the first to introduce you to – your future." "Suffering from application anxiety, overwhelmed by the options." "Well, fret no more." "Because we answer all questions tonight." "What?" "What did you do?" "Oh, only sent away for every piece of material available on the top 50 universities in the nation." "Applications." "Promotional videos." "Articles." "Reviews." "Everything you ever wanted to know about schools but you were afraid to order online." "I have Kaplan's." "I have Barron's." "I even have the Hillel Guide to Jewish Life on Campus for good measure." "Dim sung has been ordered, so in a few hours I shall be dumpling stuffed and you will have narrowed all this down to your top ten." "We shall begin with the, uh, shameful Number 50, Penn State, and work all the way up to..." "Princeton." "Dad, this is great." "Really, I mean I love the hats." "All 50 of them." "But, um," "I already know where I want to apply." "You do?" "Kinda, yeah." "Well, I was rather hoping we could make those decisions together." "I'm sorry." "I did the research at school like a month ago." "I already have my list down." "Um..." "NYU" "Columbia," "Amherst, Wellesley, Sarah Lawrence," "Barnard, Tufts, and" "Harvard." "So that you don't start skipping church?" "And I'm good." "Is that all?" "Its 8 schools." "It's not if you can't afford a 9th." "Say a school with remarkable prestige, consistently ranked in the top 3 by U.S. News, such as..." "Princeton, perhaps." "Or-or, or how 'bout..." "Princeton." "Dad, I know you've always had a thing for them." "It's just I don't see myself there." "I mean eating clubs, what's that about?" "Come now, this was always your dream school." "Honey, I have baby pictures of you in a little orange sweatshirt." "Can't you just fill out the application for good measure?" "It's one more I don't have to write, but, uh, this is great, Dad." "Honestly, you saved me like a week of downloading." "So thank you." "I'll start tonight." "Okay, we're down to A Cinderella Story..." ""PPPowderpuff Girls" and "SSSaving Private Ryan. "" "I like to mix it up." "Okay, now walk me through the Powderpuff Girls again." "I'm gonna go practice." "Oh, FYI, I'm ditching school tomorrow." "Can I ditch too?" "Only if you get a job." "It's a school thing." "I'm gonna go down to Colorado AM." "They've got this walking tour, thought I might check it out." "Colorado?" "Why?" "For Amy?" "Uh, no, for me." "I figured I might put in an application." "Wa-Wait a minute, when did this happen?" "Today." "Why you think it's weird?" "Do you?" "No." "Well, neither do I. I'm just surprised." "We talked about all this last year there was yelling and then there was hugging" "We decided on the conservatories" "– Juilliard." "We had a plan." "Yeah, well, it doesn't mean I can't look." "Colorado's got a huge music department, besides if I go there," "I can take something other than piano and anyway it's just a tour." "You know what, you're right." "We'll have a great time." "No, not we." "You're not coming." "Come on, it's just a walking tour." "I'll walk with you." "See what they have to offer." "I'll clear my schedule." "Fine." "Great." "You drive, I'll bring the doughnuts." "Low on popcorn." "You have no learning curve." "Stand back Mama Bear, Papa's gonna flambé." "Ooh, what is it this time?" "Bananas Foster." "Retirement breakfast part two, if I can just keep from over-caramelizing the sugar, which really just means burn." "Love the Food Channel." "Too bad the bananas aren't the only thing fired around here." "How did you find out?" "It's a small town." "Why didn't you tell me that you were canned?" "Because I didn't want to get into it with you." "They did their thing about cut backs and me being so close to retirement and I-I just didn't want you going off half-cocked." "THOSE BASTARDS FIRED YOU BECAUSE OF YOUR AGE." "Like that. 'Causing a ruckus." "YOU BET I'M CAUSING A RUCKUS." "MORE THAN THAT A FREAKUS." "AND THEN I'M JUST GONNA KICK SOME ASS." "No you won't." "Now I'm not a fan of their reasons but I don't need to fight it either." "So you're just gonna let them put you out to pasture." "No." "No." "I may be done with the job but I'm not done." "I've got a postcard in my head, Edna," "I want to take you there." "I just started a new job." "And Doc Hartman needs you, but he won't forever." "Help him set up and then we'll skip town." "I'm ready for Phase Three of my life and so are you." "Think of all we could do;" "all we could see;" "all the places we could make love." "No fair, talking all romantic." "That's what I do." "Well, do we have to wait until Phase Three to get some practice in?" "Don't you have to go to work?" "He can answer his own phone for an hour." "Try to keep up, 'cause this might take a while." "Okay, now, uh, on your-left-my-right, is Goodwin Hall, which is the largest of the frosh dorms." "Now  it is all one-room-triples but they do have in-room cable so I would definitely put this down as my preference." "Dorms look okay." "Yeah, nice refugee camp vibe." "Okay, folks, right this way please." "Howdy." "Can we go now?" "I am starving." "We haven't seen the departments yet." "They're big and brown and blocky like every other building here   it's like they built this place with an endowment from Lego." "Let's go get a blintz." "So this is Walker Plaza." "Okay now every year the Seniors gather here." "They wrap themselves from head to toe in toilet paper and they do this kind of Mummy Walk around campus, it's just really totally hysterical." "I will give you a thousand dollars if you tell me you're kidding." "Could you be quiet please?" "I would if this wasn't so BORING." "Don't mind my father." "He had a stroke recently." "Very sad." "Edna?" "I'm here, Boss." "Sorry about the late, how's the morning going?" "My morning was ass, Edna." "Where the hell were you?" "I had something at home needed dealing with." "So we-we open at 9." "Patients came in at 9." "When I worked at Cedars for an awfully long time, and the rule was you come in when your shift begins - rain, shine, problems at home, and I've been trying to reach you all morning." "How can you still not have a cell?" "Easy up, boss, I didn't go AWOL on ya, I was a little late." "You were over an hour late." "Now I don't know how things worked at your last job, but here it's a pretty simple concept." "You show up, you do your job, you get your check on Thursdays and if you can't handle you just say the word." "You're right." "Good." "What's the word?" "What?" "How 'bout schmuck." "Excuse me." "You heard me." "I don't need this." "I'm tired of you getting by on your dimples anyway." "You can't quit." "You're out of doctor's offices to work in." "I don't need an office anymore." "I'm moving to Phase Three." "By the way, next time you're at the dentist, ease off on the bleaching, hurts my eyes." "Okay, so, this is our music hall." "You got any cool concerts coming through?" "All the time." "Last year we had a lecture from the guy who invented the Koosh Ball." "Oh, good acoustics." "Actually, yeah there's-there's no gum in the hall." "Oh, fine." "All gone." "See?" "Okay, that's it, go wait in the car." "Tour's over for you." "Oh, come on, I want to see more." "I heard they've got the fifth-largest microfiche collection in the whole country." "Yeah, I just wanna keep the tour moving so if anyone is tired... or they just maybe wanna stay here and work out some family issues, that's-that's fine." "Thank you." "Any time." "Why'd you bother coming if you were gonna bag on the place the entire time?" "Well, I thought I might get a sweat shirt," "My son gave up a promising future and all I got was an instate tuition [clases particulares]." "Come on, you're really not gonna go here." "Yeah, I might." "After all you've worked for." "You're gonna settle for this." "What's wrong with this place?" "Nothing, if you're not trying to get into Juilliard." "Do you know the chances of you're getting accepted there?" "Yeah, better than you do." "No, I don't think so." "There are 4000 kids applying and only 30 spots for piano." "The slightest loss of focus and the next kid gets your spot." "You can't even give yourself the option of failure." "Well, maybe failure's not such a bad thing." "Piano takes up so much of my life that I don't have time for anything else." "You're not supposed to be doing anything else." "You are a concert pianist." "How do you know?" "How do I even know?" "You-You've been pressuring me for so long" "I can't remember if piano is something I actually wanted or something I agreed to when I was 10." "Oh, come on." "You-You just want me to go to some special school for special kids 'cause God forbid I turn out to be normal, instead of a magazine cover." "You know what, you can blame me if you want to, but I'm trying to keep you on track and all I see right now is you getting scared." "This is when you need to trust your abilities and dive in - not look for some kind of escape route." "You cannot be afraid of failure." "I'm not scared of what happens if I fail and don't get in." "I'm scared of what happens if I do." "If I got to Juilliard, then that's it – one thing – piano." "I'll be just like you right before she died." "I mean, it took mom dying to wake you up," "I don't wanna have to lose something to keep myself from turning into you." "Excellent roast, Rose." "Well, thank you, dear." "Also, thank you." "I think." "You know who has fine meal programs for incoming freshman." "Dad, I'm not going to Princeton." "Get over it." "I just can't see why you won't add one more application." "You've covered all the comparable schools in the northeast" "– Ivies included – so that rules out reverse snobbery." "You have something against New Jersey, because outside of Newark, it's actually quite blue-collared." "Oh, nice, let me guess." "Only New York and Boston." "Well, connect the dots." "She's staying near the hub." "Shut up, Bright." "What hub?" "Man, there's a lot of good piano schools in them cities, aren't there?" "Oh, so then all of this – all this talk of researching your options," "I got my list down, that was all about choosing your schools around your boyfriend." "Ah, you couldn't even add another one for Dad?" "Actually, I did." "Ephram and I are both applying to Colorado AM as a safety which you know anyone with a pulse could get in there so..." "Now that was unnecessary." "So was he." "Well this is plum absurd, not to mention disappointing." "No correction, I will gladly mention disappointing." "I cannot believe that you'd be willing to throw away whole avenues for your future for a boy." "I'm not throwing anything away." "I'm still applying to 8 perfectly great schools that have everything I want plus plenty of bumper sticker pride for you, why-why does it matter what city they're in?" "It matters if you limit even one of your options to chase after a relationship that could end." "What happens if you break up?" "So we break up." "At least, I'm not left wondering." "Oh, by then, it could be too late to transfer." "Dad, I've earned the right to choose where I want to go." "My grades are great," "I rocked the SATs, what else do you want from me?" "For you not to choose this of all moments to revert to infancy." "How is it infantile to know that something's important to me?" "It's not like I'm going around with Ephram saying that we're gonna get married, which, by the way, is exactly what you were doing when you were even younger than me, but I know how he makes me feel" "and I know that it's worth making the small sacrifice so that we can stay together, if we want." "Oh, no." "No." "No." "You're not gonna throw that at me and then pretend that it's reasonable." "You may have forgotten but you tried these bleary eyed romantics with me last year when you begged me to be grateful for how well that Cro-Magnon understood you until I had to pump his stomach in that abandoned motel." "This isn't even close to the same thing." "Of course, it is Amy." "This is what you do." "You throw yourself into a relationship." "You drop everything else, toss your family aside, then yourself all for some elaborate pageant in your mind." "You've already changed your goals to suit his." "How many times do I have to tell you, Dad?" "That is not my goal any more." "Time to let it go maybe trust me for once." "Look, how can I trust you when you make decisions like this?" "Like what?" "Like have you forgotten how easily things change?" "You think I need you to remind me." "I found the person I wanted to be with and he died last year." "Why should I lose more?" "Amy?" "I want this to work and I'll do whatever I can gladly." "If that means pissing you off, Dad," "I'm sorry, but some things are just more important than you." "Round two as promised." "You didn't promise that." "Well, I took the initiative." "I found a case study that went on about Bach, something about the polyrhythms and as it turns out," "I have a son who has a whole classical musical collection, a CD burner, and a flagrant disregard for piracy laws." "Actually I'm glad you came." "Come on in." "Thanks." "Kinda quiet, isn't it?" "Oh, I know, Charlie is actually doing his homework and I only had to remind him three times." "No." "No." "I mean the music." "It's 6 o'clock." "Shouldn't you be on Hyden?" "Oh, the music plan." "I took a break." "Well, I hate to be the hall monitor here, but that's really not the best approach." "The-the theory is constant stimulation." "I know." "I had it on." "I played Beethoven until I could sing the words to Ode to Joy in German and I'll get it on again if that's what you tell me to do, but first we need to talk." "We already talked about this..." "No." "No." "I tried to talk to you and you read me more statistics." "You're an energetic doctor and a reasonably funny guy, but you've got serious listening issues so this time your plan – follow me." "You want me to trust you." "Of course." "I want that too." "No, thanks." "The thing is you're coming up with plans to try to help John becomes something of himself again, but you have no idea who that is." "He was a guy for a long time before he was a patient." "Did you know he lived in Bordeaux until he was 8 or that he used to be a seismologist?" "No, I didn't." "Earthquake research at the university." "Weird I know, but he knew more about the front range fault line than anyone in the state." "He practically invented the early detection software for the entire region." "That's amazing." "Yeah, he was amazing." "John changed everything from the first night I met him." "He's right here." "And right now you're the only person" "I have telling me not to let that one go and that means I need you to know who you're trying to bring back." "So do me a favor?" "If you are going to start making plans for us, get to know him first." "Then I'll do whatever you say." "When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now " "Will you still be sending me a Valentine, birthday greetings, tending my roots?" "" "If I'd been out 'till quarter to three, will you lock the door?" "Will you still need me, will you still feed me," "When I'm sixty-four?" "You bet." "I love you." "Will you stay with me until I'm 64?" "Yes." "These things are impossible." "It's just your basic Who are you and why do you want to come here?" "essay." "Declare your intended major." "Try Music.." "Next." "Hmm, this is actually really fun when it's not yours." "Yeah, except if I go to Colorado, then piano's probably not a priority." "Okay, so it's just a safety, check Undeclared and move on." "What?" "Undeclared.." "I just never thought of myself as one of the clueless before." "What like the rest of the world?" "Some of us are highly functioning members of society." "Folding sweaters at mini-malls." "What now you're going?" "It's called preemptive bailing." "I'm trying to help, you're trying to bite my head off," "I can see where this is going and you do not really have time for a full fight cycle so call me when you're done." "This was a good idea." "I'm full of 'em." "We get to tackle the whole world now." "I even like the sound of it – Phase Three." "Well, you'll like the looks of it even better." "Wait 'til you see what I got planned." "It all starts right here." "Santorini." "Greece." "A villa on the Caldera with a month-to-month lease" "– beautiful view." "I can write all morning looking out on the Med with no problems for the rest of the day bigger than whether to hit the black sand beach or the red." "And what am I suppose to do there?" "Wiggle around in a bikin and mix margaritas." "You have something else in mind?" "Two applications for the Peace Corps with a pit stop in Guadalajara with Habitat for Humanity." "We could be getting roofs over the homeless in a month." "Hold on." "Hold on." "You want to build houses." "And then we'll help some sick kids, maybe take a stretch over and see Linda in Namibia." "That's not really how I saw Phase Three." "I-I saw us slowing down not kicking it into high gear." "Well, I can't lay myself out to rest." "I gotta be doing things." "Look, I'm not out to take on the world any more, Edna." "I can't be running around all the time." "Phase Three for me – I gotta sit still." "I want you to sit still with me." "Would you at least think about it?" "AMY, THIS ISN'T GONNA BE ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE MAKE-OUT APOLOGIES, IS IT?" "Oh, hey, Dr. Abbott." "Uh, that wasn't your daughter I was talking about." "Amy and I – we're just friends." "I mean..." "Uh, are you looking for my dad?" "Actually I've come to see you." "Should I be scared?" "Every day of your life." "This regards another matter." "I have a favor to ask." "A Princeton application?" "All filled out, check signed, correct postage." "She only needs to write the essay, which she can do in her sleep, if she wanted to." "Which she doesn't." "I know she doesn't." "I also know that she used to." "It used to be all that she would talk about." "When I go to Princeton, I want to live where Fitzgerald lived." "At some point between freshman year and her relationship with you that changed." "Well, a lot's happened since then – not just me." "I only want her somewhere where she can explore every facet of her curiosity." "Princeton excels in everything that Amy has even the vaguest of interest in" "– English, Women's Studies, Biology, Dance." "She should have that." "You know as well as I do, that there's no convincing her of anything that's not already in her head." "I-I've tried." "I-I've failed." "I still have bruises." "I know." "But right now, you're the one she listens to." "Didn't used to be that way, but now it is so here I am." "That was her dream once" "– don't deny her the option of turning it down." "I can try." "Well, that's more than I can do." "Thank you." "It's good to hear, by the way." "What is?" "Your playing." "It is as good as they say." "That was an arrangement of a Bach motet, wasn't it?" "Well, it's an attempt at least." "My teacher's got me breaking down choral structure – he's evil." "I didn't know that you knew music." "Do you play?" "I wanted to." "But as with surgery I was born with the ear but not the hands." "God has a cruel sense of humor." "Apparently I'm his favorite channel." "I've been working all night on the obbligato." "Usually it just comes, but when I get stuck, it could take – a while." "Is that funny?" "No, I'm sorry." "I-In a way, you're so much like your father." "See you've just described what it is to be gifted and you don't even know it." "The part that you call effortless that would be the life's ambition of the less blessed and" "and the part where it's actually a bit of work – that's an argument they wouldn't even be able to follow." "Well, the experts seem to disagree." "I've got paperwork and very expensive schools to prove it." "Well, that's technique – the part that can actually be taught and graded, improved." "What you've been given, it's more like – the rain – simply happens." "Nothing can alter it's timing or course." "You just have to dress for the occasion." "You know, uh, there are words to that piece." "Bach borrowed a poem by Johann Franck, do you know what they mean?" "No." "You should find out." "Morning." "Word to the wise, chirpy." "I don't know what flies back in LA LA Land, but here that temper of yours is liable to get you nut punched." "Now let me just get my boxes and then I'm a Christmas card." "My stuff is still here." "Yeah, and your work's not finished either, what's up with that?" "Where'd you put Mrs. Monihan's chart?" "Maybe you didn't hear the part where I said I don't work here anymore." "Yeah." "I saw you stamp your feet too." "World class tantrum." "If you keep it up another 10 minutes, it'd've counted as your cardio." "If you need me to recommend you another nurse, I can..." "No, I'm good." "I'm not worried." "You're not retiring;" "you don't have it in you." "You wanna bet?" "Dunkits and Doughnuts." "What?" "You're gonna kick back on some beach somewhere?" "You'll chew your nails off in a day." "You'll be down to finger nubs in a week." "I've watched you work, Edna, there are people who go to their offices and do their thing and the clock hits 5 and they're out of there" "– thinking about surf conditions or whatever's waiting for them on TiVo." "The job doesn't follow them one step out the office door" "– you're not that lucky." "My bet stands." "You're gonna be mad at me, but I have one more application to add to the list, can you handle it?" "Are you gonna get all pissy again when filling it out?" "No, it's for a conservatory," "Will and I talking about upping my odds and he-he likes this place" "– the Curtis Institute somewhere in Jersey I think." "You don't sound too excited." "Uh, it's not A list but he knows one of the instructors there." "So what do you think?" "Can you add one more to the list?" "Jersey, huh?" "Guess I could apply to Princeton – keep the Dad happy." "Two birds, right?" "Whatever works." "You are so gonna crack." "What are you talking about?" "He talked to you." "Wow, smart chick." "Major downside." "And don't be mad, okay?" "At him or you?" "Uh, both." "Preferably me first, if I had to choose." "It was kinda cool, he was just trying..." "You did kind of break his heart on this one." "Well, look, now you're mad." "Well, that depends, Ephram." "Do you want me to apply because my dad backed up the guilt truck or because you're worried about us?" "I" " I don't know." "It's a lot of pressure." "You've given up things for us." "It's not like we don't fight – a lot – yesterday." "That barely counted." "Yeah, what if we did fight or what if we broke up or worse, what if we stay together just long enough for you to get stuck in some city with nothing to do but hate me." "Wow." "Yeah, I know." "You really worry about that stuff?" "One of us has to." "Job was free." "It took me a long time to get here, Ephram." "You had to do a lot of fancy talking." "But this is what I want." "I wanna stay in love." "You, me – us." "That's not gonna change and so what if I'm wrong, it's my mistake to make." "You don't get to protect me." "I mean you can try, but I'll just kick your ass." "It's not your job." "It's not my dad's job." "I don't need guarantees, Ephram." "So you can worry all you want but I'm betting on us." "I don't like fighting." "Me neither." "I don't like compromise a lot either , but I'll take it over fighting." "So here's what I got – Costa Rica." "They've got a Docs Without Borders outpost there" " needs help with inoculations." "Forty miles south of beachside" "– I type, you can save the orphans." "I took my job back." "For how long?" "I'm in for the long hall." "That's not what we talked about." "I know." "I gotta work, Harper." "That's the way I'm built." "Then take the show on the road." "I wish I could." "It doesn't work that way any more." "I've done a lot of things in my life" "– left my family, seen a lot of places – but I can't say I did it with no regrets." "I didn't mean for it to happen, but I've put down roots now and they're here." "I came to this town for a weekend and stayed five years longer than I intended." "I did that for you." "It's been five years, Edna." "It could be a lot more." "We're good here – you and I." "For now." "I meant what I said." "I told you I felt life was talking to me." "I can try to keep my feet planted here for as long as I can but I don't know how long that'll be." "What happens when time runs out?" "I'll put this away." "The thing is you can never tell when everything you counted on might fall apart" "– no matter how solid the rock." "Nice try, Harold." "With what?" "You had him too." "You tried." "He tried." "Everybody tried." "Call me the difficult one." "As a consolation prize, I've decided not to be mad at you for going to my boyfriend behind my back." "I just want you to have the best." "I know and you get major points for good intentions, but your execution sucks." "It's only one more application." "I know Dad." "Time to let it go trust me, kiddo, it's gonna be okay." "All right, Dad, good night." "She didn't budge?" "She didn't even blink." "She's in love, dear." "And how is that a comfort again?" "Try not to worry." "I happen to know another Abbott who didn't apply to Princeton so he could be with the girl he fell in love with." "He turned out just fine." "I'm going up to bed." "Lose the pout and join me soon." "Rocks break." "Everything changes even when you think you're sure, especially..." "To be fair if I was one of the Fates looking down at the best laid plans of dumb little people," "probably see mine and want to mess with him too." "Can I bug you?" "Mission accomplished." "I, uh, I wanted to give you this." "The gesture implies an apology." "You can skip the rest." "Well, humor me." "I rehearsed." "I'm sorry, I've been pushing you, Ephram." "I thought I was helping you get what you want, but you're right, there's a lot about you that I don't know." "I kind of sprang the new school on you." "Well, I could've rolled with it better." "I know you're worried, but you could never turn into what I was, Ephram, you've got more than just me in you." "That doesn't mean you can't question the plan." "And if at any point you feel like you're giving up too much, you tell me and we'll change it." "You can always go somewhere else." "But the truth is that when I close my eyes and I think about you in four years," "I see you at Juilliard." "I know you do." "I appreciate the crazy dad cheering section." "It's just I get so stressed out sometimes," "I forget why I'm even doing this." "The truth is on my end," "I don't know where I see myself in four years." "Well, then try it." "What?" "Close your eyes." "Try to visualize it." "Yeah." "What's the matter too cool.." "...to visualize with your father?" "Come on, picture it." "Close your eyes." "You graduate." "You move ahead." "You're happy." "What are you doing?" "Where are you?" "I'm playing  in Juilliard." "And that's what we'll go for." "That's where we'll get you." "I should get back to this." "Keeping all of your options open." "Ah, something like that." "You want to know about me in 500 words," "I get scared sometimes and disappointed." "I have doubts and I love getting my way." "I don't like change, but I know it's good for me and inevitable so I welcome it as best I can." "There's a poem by Johann Franck that says it better than I will." "Defy the old dragon, defy fear." "The world may rage and quake but I shall remain singing in perfect peace." "Yeah, things happen – things you don't expect – or want or like." "The world rages and you become someone you didn't know you'd ever be." "And there you are, in your clothes, in your life, this is my future, this is me." "This is me 'cause I want things I never thought I would." "I want the possibilities a school like Princeton can afford." "A place to grow, to meet new people, a place to be surprised when life turns out to be nothing like I imagined." "You have to be grateful for it – in perfect peace."