This is where the rubber hits the road for your marriage vows - big time. For both of you. Regardless of the smaller logistical questions (e.g. how far is too far? how much money is too much?) the bigger question must always be: can I/we do this and still keep our marrige strong? Some couples might be able to, others wouldn't. Only you and your husband know where you are in this season of your lives together. I agree with most of the other posters, but do want to offer one thought that differs from one of them: Choosing to put your marriage first - even if it means waiting a few years to go to college - is not "selling yourself out." It's investing in your future with your husband. Through the years of our marriage, my husband and I have had various moments where one of us has had a great opportunity come up. Sometimes one of us will give up what's most comfortable or desirable for us in order to see the other grow and be happy. Sometimes one of us will choose not to pursue a desire we have (a "dream" if you will) for the sake of the other. When my husband makes a sacrifice for the sake of my happiness, there is no more humbling gift that he can give me, and it only makes me want to do the same for him in return. In the long run, a marriage is built on the many moments of give and take that two people share with each other. When my husband went back to school a few years ago, he did so with the promise that if it ever became too stressful on our marriage he'd give it up. There were many hard moments, but just knowing he'd be willing to go that far for me made me more willing to stick it out. Eventually he finished and we were both happy. A healthy, long-run marriage can never be built if each person is focused only on putting himself or herself first. One last thought: my husband is very good at looking at options that aren't openly apparent at first, and that's been very helpful for us when we reach a crossroads or a major decision like the one you're talking about (for example, do you have to do this now, or could you wait a couple of years?). There may be creative solutions that you haven't yet considered, so I encourage you to ask others who know you both well for their input, too.

I'm not real clear on what type recipes you want but maybe this fruit salad would work? FRUIT SALAD (serves 18) 8 seedless oranges 2 lemons 4 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups water 4 grapefruit 8 bananas Juice of 1 lemon 2 Spanish melons (use any kind you like) 2 ripe pineapples 1 bunch black grapes 1 bunch white grapes 2 pints strawberries With a swivel-bladed vegetable scraper, peel off the skinds of the oranges & lemons. discard the lemon pulp or reserve for another use. Cut the peel into the thinnest possible strips. Add to the sugar & water in a saucepan. Simmer about 30 minutes until the rinds are transparent. chill the sauce with the rinds. Peel the grapefruit. Section the grapefruit & oranges. peel & score the bananas with fork tines & cut into thick slices. Marinate teh grapefruit, oranges & bananas in the lemon juice for 10 minutes. Cut the melons into balls & the pineapples into chunks. Skin & pit the black grapes; skin the white grapes. (I don't bother peeleing the grapes.) Combine with the strawberries & add to the marinated fruits. Chill. Mix all the fruits w/the sugar & citrus-rind sauce just before serving.~~Craig Claiborne

Oh this is all so funny to me when you all refer to having only 100 in your graduating class. We had 40 which was not considered an average size class. I had friends in the next school over and they graduated in a class with 12. Funny thing is all these schools are still open and still quite small although the school that had 12 in one graduating class now has 30. This was 25 years ago.

Elmer, why wouldn't I go? Because it's a 10 hr drive from where I live, and I doubt my daughter would drive me again. It was an expensive weekend and I got nothing out of it. I have crossed paths with two people in my class since then; one woman called me when the private school her daughters were attending needed a new Head of School and she wondered if my husband would be interested (not!), and a wonderful doctor I contacted when I was very ill a few years ago. He, too, left KS and is a world renowned physician in St Louis. He got me to the right doctor, for which I am very grateful. He was always the "smartest boy in the class"! If it were here in town, I might or might not go, depending on the time of year. The reason I had not gone to any reunions before my 50th was that they were always held in July...in Kansas. When I was married to my first husband, that meant we were in northern Michigan; with my 2nd husband, on Martha's Vineyard. Gee, hard choice to make between these two places and KS in July!