Scenes from Summer …

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So I’m way behind on blogging, aren’t I? I had a really great summer, despite the crazy writing schedule that kept me writing basically every minute of every weekend. But my family kept me happy! We had a great Fourth of … Continue reading

My Daughter’s Life Through Instagram

With my daughter so far away now in college, it’s harder to keep up with her life.

I’m rather thankful for social media, now, where I can vaguely follow along.

I’ve been getting a special kick out of her Instagram photos — especially the ones of her first “real fall” in Montana. This one’s from early September in front of her dorm:

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Then, later:

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Love my girl!

The ‘Adventure Boots’

Adventure boots in Montana

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!)

 

Same Story, Another Year

August 2011 — Car packed up to take Dear Oldest Son to college in Montana:

Ricky's carload

Last week, August 2014 — Car packed up to take Dear Middle Daughter-Child to college in Montana:

DSC_0675

It was the same car, the same pretty drive (Highway 15 through Vegas, Utah, Idaho, Montana), the same lovely “big sky” of Montana, the same five of us traveling together. There was the same beauty to Montana, the same school, the same dorm-room layout, the same classic good looks of the university campus.

But a few things were different this time.

For one, I knew things were going to be okay. When we ambled along the road to drop off our firstborn, I had no experience with being a mom of college kid and I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t know if I was going to feel like I had a missing limb forever; I didn’t know if the mobile of our family would feel broken and bobbing; I didn’t know if it was going to be weird to have only a family of four at the dinner table; I didn’t know if he was going to drift away. …

But this time, as I stared out the window at the scenery going by, I already knew. I’d learned that you create a new normal. As you become a family of four, you create new traditions, new places to sit at the dining table, new conversations, new roles with each other (when my oldest left, my daughter took on the “oldest” role, the worrier; while my youngest suddenly opened up and became the talker). And your role with your college child changes, too — it becomes much more of an adult-friendship feeling. There’s more common ground, more shared humor. He’s tackling real-life problems that you can both discuss on equal ground. Yes, you do become aware that you know less about his life in general because you’re not sharing the everydayness of life and friends, but you trust that he’s telling you the parts you want to know and he’s leaving out the parts you don’t want to know anyway. 🙂

I had learned that it’s all okay. And I knew that it was all going to be okay this second time, too.

So we settled our daughter in at her new dorm room in her new university. (She’s at the same school as her brother, so there’s a little less worry — I’m so happy she has him there.)

We ran back and forth to Target, we decorated the room, we unpacked her desk supplies and shower caddy and towels, we made up her bed. We went out to a last dinner, we said goodbye, we gave her hugs and kisses. We cried a little (mostly for the end of a very fun era, being the mom and dad of a little girl), but then we smiled and told her to have fun, and please text and Skype about her new roommate, her new classes, her orientation, everything. And then we left.

We drove back as just me, Superman, and our youngest.

And now it’s time to create another new normal…

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