Like many, many of my friends, this weekend marked a big, gigantic first – the first time leaving my firstborn child at university. Photos of new dorm rooms have been popping up on my Facebook feed all day to mark the occasion.
I first wrote about this then-upcoming event in March, and now, a little over 1,300 km later, my boy has been collected from a summer camp counselling job, unpacked, repacked and unpacked again to begin the next exciting chapter of his young life – university.
And you know, it wasn’t as hard on dear old Mum as I thought it might be. Despite the few lonely tears that trailed down my cheeks on the drive to get him from camp – an acknowledgement of the beginning of the end, I suppose – I shed remarkably few over the next 6 days. From the time I saw his suntanned and exhausted face across the camp grounds until the time I hugged him good bye in Ottawa, I was too busy to dwell on the upcoming loss.
From clothes-mending (and button sewing lessons!) to list-making and from packing to money management tips, this past week was a whirlwind of getting ready. Dentist and bank appointments kept, car packed and last minute goodbyes made we headed down the highway for the five hour drive. Of course, I shoehorned in all kinds of last-minute advice. How much of it stuck remains to be seen, but it was at least given.
Surprisingly quickly, we arrived. I was told – in the nicest way possible – that it wasn’t necessary for me to accompany him on campus to pick up student cards and get oriented. Wouldn’t I prefer to spend a quiet afternoon window shopping?! This morning, it was move-in and frantic last minute shopping for things we had forgotten, or didn’t know he needed. I was unceremoniously told I did not need to stay to get him settled in, and then suddenly it was good bye, and a lonely five hour drive home. Somehow, it seemed much longer than it had the day before, and home already seems quieter than I thought it would.
I’m sure there may be a few more tears tonight as I sit down with a glass of wine and relax for the first time in a long time – and as I realize that our new normal for at least the next few months is only three of us at home regularly. But I’ll be sure to raise that glass to my son as well, and to the marvellous adventure he’s beginning.
