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Here are more of the images of my daughter’s first year in college (and first “real fall”!) that I get. I love seeing all the beauty of Montana — and the beauty of being young, and free, and independent, and … Continue reading
This is a picture my daughter took of herself, sitting on top of the “M” on the side of the hill in Missoula, Montana, overlooking the campus, the stadium, the Clark Fork River, and most of Missoula, where she is now attending college and just finished her first week. (And is reportedly loving it.)
She took this photo last year, when we were visiting the campus, and she calls the photo “Adventure Boots in Montana.”
She bought the boots last fall at Target — just an ordinary pair of boots that she’d wanted, and got them on sale. But they ended up taking her on a lot of fun adventures over the next year, including Montana, NYC, and some great local California hikes with friends.
But I love that she even has something she calls “adventure boots”! Because this is the girl who always wore dresses at home, who had to have skirts with a certain “twirl factor” when she was 5 years old (although she did carry purses with dinosaurs and rocks in them), who has always been a rather introverted, quiet, reserved girl. And the idea that she’s been forcing herself out there to have “adventures” — and the idea that she was brave enough to travel 1600 miles away to go to college — impresses me to no end.
Here’s to many adventures for my daughter in the “adventure boots” — and a fun, new phase of discovery in this exciting time of life for her!
I’m so proud of the woman she’s becoming.
When’s the last time you had what you’d call an “adventure” — where you had to put yourself out of your comfort zone and do or learn something new? (I’m thinking I might have to get myself a pair of adventure boots and do more of this!)
So, in the middle of all the book-launch hubub, this happened:
Our little girl graduated from high school and is ready to go out into the world to conquer!
I can hardly believe how time is flying.
Just yesterday she looked like this on her first day of kindergarten:
And now she’s all grown up and heading out to college! How did that happen?
We’re hitting the road next week to take her, her brothers, her new comforter, a bunch of shiny new pens and pencils, towels, electrical cords, two bowls, a spoon/fork/knife, a shower caddy, winter clothes, her laptop, a desk lamp, a hamper, a wastebasket, a bunch of push-pins and frames, and all her other worldly belongings on a trek to her new school and her new life.
I hope to only cry a little bit.
(I’ll let you know how that goes…)
Okay, back to the road trip:
Despite the fact I’ve lived in California all my life, I’ve never (as an adult) been north of San Francisco. And I’ve never (in all my years) been to Oregon or Washington.
So it was time to fix that.
I was so excited to see Northern California and higher: Napa! Redwoods! Oregon! Portland! Seattle! I couldn’t wait.
Unfortunately, Road Trip Day 2 began with some drama.
The drama: Nate had been feeling rather ill during the week leading up to the trip, and the first day we were on the road, he was feeling lightheaded. On the morning of Day 2, we drove through San Francisco to Café Roma, the café Superman and Rene loved most on our last trip there, and they began walking the steep San Fran hills to get their morning brew. But Nate and I stayed behind because he wasn’t feeling well. Continue reading
Man, I do love road trips!
We just finished a 10-day one that was fun, funny, tiring, relaxing, beautiful and adventurous all at once.
Our main goal on this trip: Get to Missoula to see oldest son in his college environment at the University of Montana.
But first: We decided to take a detour and go up the California coast this time so we could also see the Redwoods, Oregon, Seattle, and the Seattle-to-Missoula drive through Fourth of July Pass (Idaho) that he’s been taking and telling us about.
So, we were off! Continue reading
