August 22nd

Hi, It’s Christina –

D-Day has arrived. I know I said I probably would not have had time to Blog today, but I’m up, hours before we have to leave, so…

The party last night was good until the end. That’s when all the tears started. Another close friend of the family was here and she leaves for her senior year of college on Friday, and she started to cry when she found out my daughter made her a cake in her school colors to go along with the cake she made for herself. (My daughter is the one in the back with the green cake, and yes, the friend is crying while she is cutting hers.)

Not long after this, others started leaving and my daughter had to say goodbye. She had a really hard time when her aunt and cousins left. Some people ask why I did this party, and I’ll admit it, one of the reasons was purely selfish. I knew if I didn’t exhaust myself both mentally and physically yesterday I would have had too much time to sit there and dwell on the fact my baby was leaving and I knew I would fall apart. Having a house full of people, I knew I would be too busy to let it hit me.

With all the hubbub yesterday, I never had time to pack my husband’s and my stuff for the weekend, so I have that yet to do today as well as loading our car up with my daughter’s stuff. We sent some things last night in my mother’s car as well as my in-law’s car, but the rest is coming with us. It should be interesting trying to fit the refrigerator, six bins, however many miscellaneous bags as well as our weekend bags, and four people in the car.

Between the side view mirrors and the rear back-up camera, I should be able to manage, since I know the rear-view mirror will be useless. My daughter is a little embarrassed her things are taking up three cars, but if we sneak some stuff in tonight, then we can consolidate the remaining things into our car for tomorrow, and she will be ok.

I hope they allow us to help her unpack and set up her room. The way they made it sound was we drove up in front of the dorm, the upper classmen descended on the car and remove all the stuff and we drove away. Hopefully they meant drove away to a parking spot not in front of the dorm. I can’t imagine just dumping my child and her stuff on the curb and driving away. It would be cruel and unusual punishment for all of us. No use getting worked up over it now, it will be what it will be, and we’ll find out when we get there.

Ok, the sun is finally up enough that I should be able to go in my room and pack without turning on any lights and waking my hubby. Chances are I will be awake tomorrow hours before I need to be, so I will probably do a Blog entry. So until then… have a great day and happy writing!