I DID IT!!!
I got my firstborn son all GRADUATED AND packed and ready and MOVED INTO his NEW home….where he will share space with a great guy from Jacksonville!
I have few words of wisdom…no major epiphanies. I stayed true to my intention which was TO MAKE SURE IT WAS HIS DAY…and not about ME and my feelings…as his mother…whose son …the person she carried for 9 months and raised, nursed first with her body and then though broken bones and broken hearts and chicken pox …I did not pine over my dwindling brood…with a sister just one near behind…
NOPE – IT WAS HIS DAY!!! And I have to say…It was GREAT!!!
Moving in was just as you would expect…parking issues and tons of kids and parents and boxes and rubbermaid bins and mattress pads…but what I had NOT anticipated were the nearly instantaneous friendships made…I felt such a bond with these strangers…as we unloaded our individual loved ones…rolled out mattress pads…made up beds and filled refrigerators. We ditched our musings on emptying nests and smiled and welcomed the day full on…the mood was upbeat…dare I say HAPPY…like one big moving party…the excitement was palpable!!! We chatted in the elevators and made new friends in lines at lunch…we helped strangers carry boxes…and without apology we beamed at our kids and shared our collective pride in this bunch of grown children from all kinds of families who wrote their college essays on different sides of the country and the planet and who NOW will go through a major LIFE EXPERIENCE together.
For sake of a better word…it was really really COOL!!!
YES I miss him
YES I wish I had more time and sometimes I just cry it goes so fast and I wish that life would slow down but it WON’T and thus…here we go!!!
I AM A WAHOO PARENT AND PROUD OF IT!!!
Proud of you!! I knew you could do it!
Thanks Lisa! How are YOU doing?
Each day gets easier. The house seems so empty without him clomping up and down the stairs and yelling, “What is there to eat in this house!”! But, this is exactly what I spent the last 18+ years preparing for…teaching, loving, encouraging my boy to be able to leave the nest! I am so proud of him!
Ok, now you’re on the other side like several of us. I think the worst part is the anticipation. It’s done now. You will develop new routines. Time to turn your attention to Phoebe. My last started his senior year last week. Last round of college apps. Can’t say that I’m going to miss all the deadlines.
Good for you! My cousin’s advice was that every time she felt sad and missing her daughter, she cleaned out a drawer 🙂 I try to concentrate on how my kids’ horizons are sooo much bigger now that they go to college.
And, Tate will be home for Thanksgiving (or weekends in between because I know you are close by) before you know it!
It helps that I have HUGE painting project which is keeping me excited and busy…it is all good!
That is great! I am off with my oldest daughter on Thursday..Yikes!
Great! My advice is just take it all in, cry and laugh and be in the moment…it is such a precious event!!!xo
wow… i have been a long time follower of you from way over here in oregon. my son who is a senior is looking to go to uva as a track athlete he will be going on an official vist this fall. i’m already crying virginia is way to far. i hope i am as brave and strong as you are when that time comes.
Good luck to your son! And let me know if we can help on our end! Hotel rec, etc! You will be okay…and I get to do it all over agin next year…lets see how “together” I am when I say goodbye to my daughter…..xo