College Life

This coming Monday will be two months since Lauren left for college. I have had more than one person ask me how I'm doing with her being gone. I guess if I could sum up the feeling in one word, it would be, "different." The college Lauren is attending is 90 miles away. Yesterday, since my schedule was clear and Lauren has no Friday classes, I decided to hop into the car and drive over to visit her while Dominic was at school. I had a Panera gift card, and knowing how much Lauren loves their macaroni and cheese, I invited her to lunch. It was awesome to have my girl completely to myself for a few hours. After lunch, I drove her back to her dorm and dropped her off. On my drive back home, I caught myself smiling because I know that Lauren is happy.  Isn't that kind of the way it goes with your children (even if they are adults)? If they are happy, then you are happy, right? My first semester as a college freshman was much different.  In the Fall of 1981, I went away to school in Kentucky. I had really bad homesickness, fell into the "wrong" crowd and was briefly engaged. I lasted one semester and then moved back home with my parents. I really can't remember what possessed me to pick a college so far away, knowing how close I was (and still am) to my family. A few weeks ago, I hooked up with a friend of mine who also has a daughter that is a college freshman. My friend was telling me that her daughter's first roommate moved out of the dorm and dropped out of college completely within a few days because she was so "homesick." Wow, I guess that young lady was definitely not ready to be on her own!! Starting on that road to "college life" can be hard, especially if you tend to be more introverted or shy. You really have to push yourself out of your normal "comfort zone." I sometimes wonder, what if I would have stuck it out at Eastern Kentucky? Where would I be and what would I be doing now in 2014? I guess life has a way of going the way it was meant to be.  My college "career" involved mostly going to school at night and working at the same time. It took me another 13 years before I finally finished! Believe me, I have highly encouraged my one and only daughter to not take the same "path" I did!!!