Becca moved into her dorm last Friday. It was chaotic and emotional. But I knew it would be.
When Jen moved into her dorm freshman year, she had me, her father (my ex) and Becca to help her. Her school is in New England, about a 4 hour drive away from our home on Long Island. but Becca goes to school in Manhattan, so she had an entire entourage --her father, her sister, three aunts, a family freind and her mother (me) -- to help her move in. And she brought enough "stuff" to outfie the whole dorm, I think.
Her first full day of college life was spent in a volunteer program, a group of students went to Harlem to plant a garden. then they had a "cultural experience" in chinatown, visiting a Buddhist Temple and eating dim sum in Chinatown.
The students who did not participate in the volunteer program moved into the dorm Sunday. When I spoke to Becca she was gushing aobut her new room mates and how she loved them already.
They had two days of orientation, and today is the first day of class. I will be interested to know if she's still gushing after today. when we visited the school last spring she looked at the course catalogue and saw hundreds of classes she wanted to take; I hope she's enjoying.
It's so werid to say that my daughter Becca is away at school and my daughter Jen is still home with us.
Jen is in a frenzy of packing. She's driving up to school on Labor Day. She told me that she doesn't need help moving into her house. She's sure that everything she wants to bring to school will fit into her car, and she's used to the drive north. She doesn't want her mom to go to the real estate broker with her to pick up the keys, she wants to do it herself. She's got lots of friends to help her carry her things into the house. She tells me that none of her housemates willl have a parent helping them move in, either. She plans to invite me and her father up in a few weeks to see the house, take her out to dinner, etc.
My baby doesn't need me anymore. At least, not in the way she used to.
Sigh.
cross posted at Songbird's Crazy World
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