Friday, January 11, 2013

Mansquared goes to college.

Yesterday was the big day. We loaded up the truck with bags and Rubbermaid containers and pillows and blankets and a huge pile of hanging clothes, and made the trek to Lynchburg again, this time to move Mansquared into his dorm at Liberty University.

I might have cried a little.

Okay, I sobbed.

We began the day by driving the first two miles from home with the tailgate down before Mansquared asked if anyone had shut it. When we all claimed it was HIS responsibility, he denied it and we argued, and finally he said, "I'm pretty sure we've established that I'm 19 and I know everything." After securing the tailgate and ensuring we hadn't lost anything, we were on our way. Mansquared was doing all the driving.

We got there and got him moved it, then headed over to campus to pick up his ID card and books. Then we had lunch with Abbey and Cesia (my little Latina baby) and went back to campus for a meeting with an advisor, which lasted about an hour.

By that time, I could tell by looking at him that Mansquared was suffering from information overload—no more available RAM, download has stalled.

That meant it was time for a trip to Walmart. Because what 19-year-old doesn't love to shop?

This one. But there were things he wasn't going to live without (a foam mattress topper and a microwave. Hello? Popcorn?) so we persevered. By the time we got back to his dorm and got all the stuff put away and the bed made, it was 3:30 and I needed to get going. I still had to stop by Abbey's house and drop off some food I had brought from home for her.

I stood near Mansquared and said, "I can't leave without the keys."

He reluctantly handed them over and we hugged. Commence sobbing. This is, after all, my baby. I assured him that if we weren't absolutely sure he could handle this, we wouldn't leave him. We talked about the semi-annual first-week-of-classes freak-out that is typical, and he promised he wouldn't call me crying. :) After one last hug, I left.

And continued sobbing all the way to Abbey's house. She, however, was ready for me. She made me a cup of tea and patted my hand and told me he would be fine. Which I already knew, but it was hard anyway.

All I ever wanted to be was a mom who stayed at home and raised my children. And just like that, it's over. I'm stunned at how quickly it all went.

Finally, I got in the truck for the 3-hour drive home. I fretted and prayed about how Mansquared would do. Would he make the right friends? Handle the work? Get along with his roommate? Part of my worry had to do with the fact that there are very few people on campus right now. These first few days are just for the new transfer students to get acclimated. I knew he had a welcome session at 6:30, so I figured I would find out later how it went.

At 9:30 last night I texted him, "So how was the welcome thingie?"

He replied, "I won the push up contest in front of 300 people, made a ton of new friends, and ate a cookie. I'm good."

I laughed and cried all over again. Our God is so good. He gives us exactly what we need, when we need it. Mansquared is going to be fine.

Be thankful ~

2 comments:

Kayla said...

Awww...God is good. You are sort of scaring me for when my days of dropping off kids at the dorms begins. I wish you well in your new phase of life. That sounded kind of phony, didn't it? I don't know what to say because now I am just thinking about me and my babies.

Anonymous said...

time to blog.