By the time you read this, chances are we’ve finished moving our daughter Gracie into the dorm at Southern Nazarene University. Yesterday was an emotional day for me. At lunchtime I rode with my husband to pick up some equipment and grab a quick burger at the drive-thru. Somewhere between the two I had a good cry.
It’s not that this is a bad thing. College is good. We’re not moving her into jail or something. It’s just that, having done this seven times before, I know what’s ahead. Things change after they go to college. They’re never truly *home* again, they visit home temporarily. So it’s the end of a season of life, a final goodbye to childhood, and an adjustment in family dynamics back at home.
Gracie is the oldest of the last “set” of children at home. We had three sets: girl-boy-girl-boy, four boys, four girls. I meant to do that. 🙂 So something about the beginning of the end makes her departure especially emotional.
I meant to write a nice blog post about all of this but it’s a little too raw yet. Instead I’m sending you this little update and then going back to standing in line at the financial aid office, hanging curtains, and making trips to WalMart for stuff we forgot. Tonight is a parent dinner and candlelight ceremony on the campus mall, tomorrow parent seminars, and Sunday the dedication service and alumni luncheon. Then, at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon, it’s goodbye. To a lot of things. Many of you have been blog readers since Gracie was a middle schooler. She was about 10 years old when I began the blog, and she and I and the blog have all been through a lot of changes since then!
Thanks for listening….back to our regularly scheduled blog post next week. Meanwhile, have a really great weekend!
With love,
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Thank you for writing about this time in your life. So many blogs are about babies and toddlers, and since I am beyond that phase I appreciate your story as I look toward my own children growing up and moving out. My oldest starts home school sixth grade this year, and my youngest kindergarten. One of my joys from home school is being with my children almost all. the. time. My peers who send their children to school advise me that I will have to learn to let go sooner or later. Obviously, I choose later! I need stories about families making the transition from home to college, so I can learn to look forward to that chapter. So, thank you.