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| This picture is my shoe vertical - should have flipped it horizontal. Sorry. Small move-in injury. I kept bumping my right foot shoe into my left shoe ankle bone. Ouch. It is like biting the inside of your cheek and then re-biting it multiple times, which I always attribute to stress. |
This has been the busiest, most hectic, chaotic, stressful summer on record for us. Now these busy days and weeks have dissolved with one downsizing swoop. We went from having six kids at home to just four.
I dropped Eddie off for his freshman year of college yesterday - complete with a 4 hour drive there and a four hour drive home. All this driving took place in one day on less than 6 hours of sleep. Not my favorite way to drive. We were at a 50th b-day party the night before and I wonder if I ate something that had pesky gluten in it. I didn't feel great.
Ed and I left the house at 7:30 am. I warned Ed that if I heard Lad and Coach get up and leave for the airport before 4 am for Lad to catch his 5:55 am flight back to New York for school, then we might have to bolt at the same time. Once I am awake I have to start driving before major drowsiness sets in. I woke up at 5:35 am - happily had not heard the earlier college departure (I said my good-byes the night before). I showered, gathered lunch and snacks, and then dragged Ed out of bed.
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| I drank the 3rd coke bottle which also had a college logo on the label. One of these may or may not be where Ed ended up going to school. |
Curly was supposed to accompany Ed and I. She was excited to see Ed's room and help him move in. I had sold the move-in idea to her, because she would end up being alone all day if she didn't come with us. Coach was assisting in teaching a class thing (WHY DID HE OFFER HIS SERVICES ON THIS DAY?) and Mini is in Ireland (more on that later) and then Tank and Reg would be caddying. At the last minute a friend invited her to attend an extra Irish dancing class, hang at friend's house, plus a sleepover. Sleepovers always win with 11 year old girls - besides I reminded her that as fun as it was to see Ed's room, it would still add up to 8 hours in the car round trip. Sleepover it was.
We woke her to say good-bye. It was not pretty. She leaned out of her bunk bed as Ed whispered, 'Don't get out - we want you to go back to sleep, just give me a hug.' And hug she did. She would not let go. My own eyes welled up watching her little chin quiver as she cried and clung to him in the longest sibling hug in our family's history.
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| While in the stupid parking lot I spotted this licence plate from CALIFORNIA! What?! Why would a water polo player from California go to school in the Midwest at a school with no water polo team. I guess it could be a Dad's car and maybe this kid doesn't play water polo. Mr. California, have you not heard about our winters? |
There were move-in frustrations. Why oh why did they instruct us to move our cars to the stadium lot after we unloaded? It was 92 degrees out and I chose to walk back to his dorm about 3 miles because I saw no shuttles or people waiting for shuttles or signs that said 'shuttle here.' A third of the way to his dorm, I turned and walked back to my car. 'Screw this. I will find a closer place to park.' I had no intention of being there all damn day. We had no dinner plans and elaborate redecorating schemes. I drove back in my sweat soaked clothes and parked in an academic lot across the street. What college move-in day would be complete without a painful trip to Target with 5,000 other people? A trip that I later decided was unnecessary. Sigh.
Our good-bye was awkward because his roomie was saying good-bye to his folks on the other side of the room. I dreaded this moment. I hugged Ed, got choked up, and ran like lightening out the door. His roomie called after me, 'Bye Mrs. Shenanigan!'
10 comments:
University workers were on strike the day we dropped our daughter off at university. It made for difficult access and exit of the place. I phoned the university to say we were being blocked out and it resulted in my complaint being part of the court injunction keeping the union away from the exits/entrances. I am normally a union person but that day was terrible because of the union.
Our goodbye went very similarly. Even though it's sophomore year, it never gets easier.
Also, I don't think I will ever recover from the Target/Walmart visits the day of move-in and I don't think the employees will either.
God bless you for doing it without your husband. I moved her OUT of college last year alone but never moved in.
That would have made for a VERY unpleasant move in day. Yuck!
There was no real reason to go to Target. His roommate had about 3x the amount of stuff. I bought command strip hooks and divided the pack up between Lad and Ed. When we got there we had no hooks, so I wonder if I sent all of the hooks off with Lad. I also told either Curly or Reg to take two bars of soap from under my sink and put them in Ed's pile like a week ago. We got there and he had no soap. Then he wished he had brought more hangers. I was embarrassed that we my kid had no soap and ticked that we couldn't hang stuff. When I got back from target, Ed was kind of like 'well, I can hang stuff later.' I think he and his roommate were ready for us to go. Boo. But also yippee because I was afraid of falling asleep while driving home. The house is not the same. And why is it taking him so long to respond to my texts now that he is 4 hours away?
Another one flies the nest. It's never easy. And never any fun at the Walmart/Target run on move in days.
Agreed. I have opted not to over think the move out day all summer, but these first few days are feeling long and lonely. Lad has called me about 4 times today and I got one unsolicited text from Ed.
I hope you are able to quickly adjust to the empty house feeling with Ed and Lad being gone. I am not looking forward to that in two years.
Beth, it is not fun. Aside from slightly less laundry and more room in the fridge. Make a plan now to be busy in 2 years because business helps, but it still bites. Coach ran to the grocery store yesterday while I was running to Costco. I texted him a few add-ons to his list. He texted back once he was home, got bananas but missed the text about yogurt. I texted back, 'That's OK - Ed can stop and get it on his way home from his workout.' Then I added a sad emoji because I knew Ed was not at a workout. Boo hoo.
Moving into dorms is never fun. Never. I hope they are both doing well at school and perhaps your house will quiet down a little bit.
Wait, who are we kidding???
Ha! Either Tank is actually taking his school work seriously, or he is just totally enjoying the freedom of using the car -because he keeps going to golf practice and then remains MIA for hours. He saunters in with a 'I was meeting with a group at the library.' I am like, 'what? no really, where were you?' Also, I have noticed an insane decrease in dirty laundry. Like it feels like 8 people moved out. Might be because Tank does not workout - so far less workout clothes. Sigh. He's skinny now, but with his donut obsession he cannot maintain that size unless he becomes a gym user. Free membership to a state of the art place thanks to Coach's workplace. Me scratching my head.
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