Kids going far away

teriwtt
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:28:14 +0000

My two Ds chose schools over 700 miles away, and it’s been hard… for me (they’ve adjusted well). In January they pulled out of the driveway in D1’s car to return to school (they’re less than three hours from each other, so D2 hitched a ride with D1 for winter break) together, I about lost it. I stood at the window, holding our miniature schnauzer in one arm, and using my other hand to wave the dog’s paw good-bye to them (yea, I know… very sappy).

This, I guess will have been the hardest year with them both being gone. D1 graduates in May and will be living at home at least for a bit until she finds a job and saves enough money to move out on her own. D2 just found out last week that she was cast in one of her school’s summer musicals (a paying gig, no less!), so she will only be home for a week or so before rehearsals begin. It will be soooo weird to have D1 home for the summer (or at least part of it) and have D2 not home (she’s trying to line up a couple of other things so she can stay on campus after her show’s three-week run ends). D1 has already publicly announced she plans to take over D2’s room to use as her closet. D2 also wants her car at school with her during the summer (but not during the school year), so there will be some enormous amounts of driving in May as we pick up D2 to attend D1’s graduation, drive them both back home with all of D1’s stuff, then less than a week later, drive with D2 back out to school and move her into her summer dorm residence (then at some point, we will need to fly back out to retrieve her car before school starts in August). I guess I can just be thankful we won’t have winter weather to worry about during all this traveling.

As so many other posters have stated, although it tugs at my heart when they’re not home (I loved having them both home for the long Easter weekend), I find such joy in knowing how happy they are at their respective schools. I’d rather they be 1000+ miles away and happy, than 100 miles away and unhappy. The second scenario would bring me much more grief, even though I might see them more frequently.