Sarah leaves in one week. Seven days. That takes my breath away, but you wouldn’t know it if you get within earshot of me. While Sarah Toy Story 3’s her room, I talk to her. I talk to her when we are in the same room. I shout across the house to talk to her. […]
I changed my mind. It started when Sarah drove to Nashville with a friend for portfolio day. She came home with an enthusiasm and excitement about college which forced me to accept that she is ready. A realization that I had been ignoring despite the quiet cheering for Sarah from the allies she doesn’t know […]
We always knew that the group bathroom in the college dorm would be a problem for Tommy. It has been a constant source of annoyance for Tommy and the resulting poor hygiene has been the topic of far too many weekend conversations. Still, I was caught off guard yesterday, with just a few weeks remaining […]
Tommy: “Mom, can you get by the co-op this week?” Me: “Umm, why? Do you need something?” Tommy: “Yeah, my dorm room gets really stinky, so I want some horse feed to leave out in a bowl to make the room smell good. Not the cheap feed though. The good stuff that smells so fresh.” […]
Tommy’s first semester away at school we learned exactly how much he has changed and just how much things remain the same. The biggest surprise was that Tommy made friends. Real, honest-to-goodness, not orchestrated by parents, friends. Tommy and his friends played games, watched movies and went shopping. You know what they didn’t do? Study. […]
I am beyond thrilled that you are happy at school with your friends. I can see that if this college doesn’t work out, you are going to need to live away from home to be happy and functional. However, we need to talk about two things. First, let’s talk about your room. I like it […]
After taking Tommy to the Greek food eatathon, we dropped him off at Pellissippi to spend the day watching hot air balloons with his friend. Then, we went on an extremely rare dinner outing with our friends. Before we even had our food on the table, my phone rang. “The glow is at eight. You […]
Thursday night, Tommy called to say that he wanted to stay at school instead of coming home. Fine. Then, he asked me to bring him clean clothes. Not fine. I explained that ALL of his pants and underwear were already in his dorm room. Without a moment’s hesitation he asked me to drive up the […]
Earlier in the week, Tommy called to tell me he wanted to stay on campus for the weekend. He then asked me to make the 4 hour round trip drive to give him clean laundry. I told him he could go into town and buy himself a pair of jeans and a bag of underwear […]
Friday night I stayed up until 2 packing for Tommy. The rest of the night I stared at the clock. Saturday morning was a blur of car loading and trying to get out the door. I busied myself with paperwork the entire drive to LMU. As the car entered the campus, Tommy whispered, “I have […]