Launching Romney

Oh man. This might be the specific post that has felt overwhelming enough that I've been not wanting to write about it! Here goes. 

Much of summertime was spent in getting Romney ready for college. Here's the thing - she and I were both pretty overwhelmed, and procrastinated doing things, like finding her housing, registering for classes, that kind of stuff. (Sort of like the way I procrastinated writing this blog post.) However, by the end of August, we had cobbled together a schedule for her. It included Art History, Physics (after one day in a Geology class which was dreadful), Anthropology, and an Art Seminar. Plus an institute class - taught by one Ben Lomu, who hosts a tv show on BYUtv, and also has a son serving in Chase's same mission. 

We also found her a nice little apartment. And here's where I need to tell you that I am certain that we have had Heavenly Help along this journey. For example, as Romney and I finally settled down to look at housing options, we decided to take a day trip to Orem to check out a couple of the apartments. We picked a few to look at that seemed like the best options, and Romney randomly picked one more just because it was in the right area. And, as you can probably guess, the other apartments were awful. Truly awful. And the seemingly random one we picked was at a great location, had the lowest price, and also had bigger rooms. At least the one they showed us. It felt like a blessing. We signed the lease and felt like progress was being made.

The last week before the move was spent....shopping. Good grief. There are many things college kids need! We packed, we cleaned out her room (with Emma clawing at the door in anticipation), we picked furniture to send with her and things to get rid of and things to put in storage. We had been given a very specific move-in date - Friday the 18th of August. So, I guess that was the day she was going to move in! We made a plan - get her moved in on that Friday, then she would come home on Sunday for a family birthday celebration and another party on Monday, her actual birthday. THEN she'd go back to Orem on Tuesday, in time for a Freshman orientation, to be followed by the first day of school on Wednesday. It seemed like a great plan!

 

Friday was an incredibly long day. We had a specific move-in time, and many errands to run before hand. We were both super anxious about meeting her roomates of course - they had started a text thread just a couple of days before, and she was hopeful about the fun chats they were having. I shall now acknowledge the fact that throughout this post I have been using the word "we" instead of "she," using "us" instead of "her." I'm fully aware of the fact that the mother of the college student should not be feeling all the feelings that the college student may or may not be feeling. I'm an over-feeler. To say the least. K. Moving on. 

 

Here's the worst part of Friday. We got to the apartment, figured out where to park, went and got her room number and keys, and made our way up. We found her room and....stood there in total and absolute shock. I swear to you, it was about half the size of the room that we were shown on the tour in July. We were horrified. Romney had brought her cello, a desk, a full dresser,....all of the things. And it looked like there would be room for almost none of it. We just stood there gaping for a minute. Her roomate wasn't around - there were a couple of the other gals in the apartment moving in at the same time, but her actual roommate wouldn't be there until the next week. And her stuff was kind of all over. 

It took a few minutes before we could even move again. But then, what could we do? Deal with it. That's what. We ended up fitting everything in just fine, except for her dresser. Instead, we joined the throngs of families headed to the local Walmart and found some plastic drawer things that would fit under her very tall bed. The cello would live in the large (and pretty nice) living room, the desk fit in fine, and miraculously, the little closet had enough room for what she needed. Freakout avoided!

Well...kind of. Romney and I spent that entire day working and cleaning and moving and organizing and shopping. Then suddenly we were done. And we stood in her quiet room, looking at each other, and tears began to pool in her eyes. Uh oh!!!! Quick, let's go for a walk! We walked from her apartment to the front runner station. Easy! She could come home whenever she wanted. But still, many tears. So we walked to campus. Easy! It was so close and so nice. But...still, so many tears. We walked and talked and walked and talked. And cried. Until I realized...why the heck did she have to stay in Orem? Her roommate wasn't there, there wasn't a single social activity happening, and her birthday was on Monday. To HECK with this! So we went back to her apartment, packed a small bag, and made a quick getaway to my van. And I just took her right back home!

We had a very nice weekend together - I'll blog about her birthday next - and when Tuesday morning came, it was somehow easier to just take her to the FrontRunner train station and say goodbye quickly. She had an old friend from elementary school who was heading down as well - they met up on the train and spent the day at Freshman Orientation together. 

Tuesday Morning - First Day of School Pic!

Saying Goodbye at the Train Station

 

 

It wasn't long before my girl found her groove. She really likes her roommates. She's figuring out how to get groceries (and only took the wrong bus to Walmart and had to walk home, calling me in tears, once). She has figured out the campus and tells me how funny it is that everywhere she goes there are just nice people everywhere who stop and talk and are helpful and kind. Different from high school. 

She comes home. Rather a lot. And that's ok. Here is a selfie she sent us after getting tagged by the late-night sprinklers as she was walking to the train to come home for a weekend.

I'm incredibly proud of her, and excited for the fun things she is doing. I kind of wish I was a little parakeet on her shoulder and could hang out with her all day long but sadly, this can not be!