TACKLE College Beginnings

Finally.  The electric is restored at Old Dominion University (ODU) after Hurricane Irene.  Child #5's entire room is packed (with her sister's clothes hidden deep in her boxes) and this blonde or brunette or dark blonde (depends on her mood) is off to college.  Only six days later than scheduled.

Irene delayed the beginning days of the East Coast schools that were hit with flooding, tree damage and electric outages.  Students were on standby waiting for their university to give the "go" to move in.

There was only one problem with the 3 hour trip to move this child to her dorm.  It was also my first day of classes at George Mason University (GMU) with a 7 hour day schedule.

I lost sleep over the decision to let her dad take her to college.  My New York daughter told me to blow off the GMU classes and drive to ODU.   I knew if I missed my critical first day, I would start off the semester  behind and struggle to catch up.

My ODU daughter and I went on the college hunt journey together.  Together we researched our schools, visited our schools, went to orientation and now must part ways.  I feel the grand finale is being split in two parts.  If that darn hurricane would have stayed away, I would have drove her to ODU last week, before my GMU classes started.   

The packing consumed our house.  She started to get stressed with the move and academic schedule ahead of her.  Her tone shifted to "snippy".   Her dad assuming the "mover role" began to sound appealing. 

I really did not want to miss this experience of sending my next daughter to college.  However, she seemed ok with dad coming to the rescue. 

At the end of the first day of college, we talked on the phone to rehash our experiences. 

Her dorm is bursting at the seams, she has a job lined up and she is scrambling for books.  I have a headache from all the material and homework in one day.  Thank goodness I did not "blow off the day".

We were both reminded of each other on our first day of school.  She met an ODU Athletic Staff member who grew up playing in our house (with my son).   In my GMU IT class,  I sat next to a girl who played years of High School Lacrosse with my daughters.  The poor girl seemed a bit freaked out by having a mother in class. 

My daughter was thankful to be 3 hours away from her mother's classroom experience.  I am sure she will miss me if her bank account screams for help.