Going Home

Today I leave my newly enrolled college student and fly back to Rhode Island. This is hard for me. I knew it would be but now that I'm hours away from getting on a plane, the reality is setting in.
I have been this way with all three kids.
I took my son off to college when I was a young 37 years old. Yes, I had him when I was WAY too young. I took him three hours away and cried all the way home. I wondered, "who's going to take care of him"  My middle child left home in a rebellious huff when she turned 18. She lived in town and we had a rocky relationship. She made bad choices and I grieved through it all. We managed to grow close through this, even though she wouldn't take my wise advice and come home to attend school. I left her to move to Hawaii two years later and it was the hardest thing I ever did. I cried.
Here we are, several years later, and the baby is leaving. Y'all.. I haven't been without one of my kids (the ones I birthed) in my house with me since I was 18 years old.
Callie is doing well. She's more prepared for this than the other two were and that's thanks to having a father figure in her life that the other two missed out on. She's confident, strong and oh so smart. I know she'll be fine.
She's crowded into a dorm room with two other girls and that's stressful. She's ready for classes to start so she has routine.  She has her brother down the road as well as his fiance. I KNOW she'll be fine. It's still hard.
I will cry today. (who am I kidding? I've been crying already!)  She's taking me to the airport. I'm leaving her with all the tools she needs to do well. I'm so stinkin' proud, but it's a bittersweet time.
It's a good thing I have a 15 year old boy at home who needs me. I need to get back, get him started in school and make sure HE has the tools he needs to leave home in a few years.
Thanks for letting me have a pity party. I'll be ok, I just need a moment.

On a more positive note, I am ready to be home and to sleep in my own bed. I need routine. I crave it. I haven't had routine in months now. If I don't get my routine back soon, I may lose it. Next week, Alex starts school and I can figure it all out!

Move-In Day

After weeks of preparation and 19 (almsot 20) years of growing and maturing, my Callie moved out today. I won't lie, it was stressful and exciting all at the same time.
We started out with a meeting with her financial counselor. The FAFSA application we put in for the pell grant is STILL being verified and there is no answer. The nice lady says "It sure looks like she's eligible for the full Pell, but no guarantees"  Meanwhile, the first payment of tuition was due yesterday. Guess what came out of our savings?
After that we swung over to the residence hall and grabbed the big orange bin to move her stuff in.

Clearly, she's not happy with me and the camera.

We get into the room and the reality of three girls in a room designed for two is really crowded. I won't go into detail but it was a bit stressful and we left two hours later with a dejected college student. We had to re-group and redesign our plan. We were off to Walmart to get plastic drawers and some other storage solutions.

Once again, she's not happy with me. This was taken with my phone because she wouldn't let me pull out the camera.

After we spent way too much money and had some lunch, we felt refreshed, renewed and re-energized. We hit the dorm parking lot and snagged one of these....again...

When we got back to her room, things were much calmer. The girls got together and divided up the space and were doing so well at working together. I was so proud. Callie truly is blessed to have two sweet girls in her room with her. I spent a few minutes putting together this little jewel.

Yes, I'm using baby scissors instead of a screwdriver. I didn't have a screwdriver. If there's one thing Army wives are good at is adapting. I'm not sure if my engineer husband would be proud of this or if he would cringe.

It's lovely, is it not?

I sat as Callie was putting her clothes away and chatting with her roommate (one had gone off with friends) and I realized, I'm the fifth wheel. I need to leave her with "C" to go exploring. They had already made plans to attend the block party/BBQ and I knew I didn't need to be there. I left her and made my way to the jiffy lube to get her car serviced and inspected so I can get Texas tags for it tomorrow.

I will hit the DMV in the morning. Please send positive thoughts and prayers that the stars are all aligned and the DMV gods are smiling on me.

I'm proud of Callie, but a little sad that she doesn't need me. But then, isn't that what I've been preparing her for these last 20 years?