And She's Gone

The last pictures we got of her as she walked off into her new independent life.

We took her to college today to move into her dorm.

Her dorm consists of 2 beds, 2 desks, 2 closets without doors and a community bathroom.

I remember the day I moved into a dorm like that.  I was 17 and young for college because I’d been moved up a year in grade school.  I was so excited for the new adventures that lay ahead of me.  I didn’t care that I was in a room with a tile floor, bunkbeds and had to share a shower with an entire hallway full of girls.

As a mom, I stood in line for 4 hours and checked off one requirement after another, until finally, she had her Enrollment form stamped COMPLETE.  Believe me, that word stamped across a page was the MOST exciting moment of the day.

Then we went to dinner and then back to her room to figure out how to make the stuff from her room at home fit into one-half of a room that was half the size of her room at home…

Interesting, to say the least.

Please note the Finding Nemo stuffed pillows on the bed.  That’s my quirky girl.

Then the moment came.  She had freshman orientation meetings to go to.  Meetings that will bring new friendships.  Godly ones that will maybe last a lifetime.  Someone to fulfill that woman-to-woman friendship filled with late nites of talking and eating Oreo’s perched on a tiny bed in a dormroom.

She will begin to test out her wings.  Wings that we have given her, so that when this day comes…

She will fly.

And she will fly beautifully.

Now someone buy me stock in Kleenex…cuz I’m gonna make a killing on them.