The Queen’s Chronicles – College Drop Off

We gathered together for one last family dinner for awhile to say goodbye to the baby of the family. I think I speak for ALL of us that we are going to miss her so much! Having my family all together is always one of my favorite things and knowing that the next time we are together will likely be thanksgiving had a frog in my throat. Todays Queen’s Chronicles is all about college drop off!

I was really. not prepared when I woke up at 4am totally emotional on the day we were to drive to Stillwater. This is not my first child to leave for college but she will be the last! The thought of her being 6 1/2 hours away and not seeing her for months at a time felt like it was crushing my heart. I could not even imagine actuallly driving away and leaving here there! My feelings were all over the place and I could not stop crying!

Spoiler alert, I did in fact make it through and drove away! I think the anticipation of it all was almost worse than the actual driving away but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tearing up just a bit sharing this with you. Carly Jo has been my little shadow for so long. She honestly is probably what kept me from cyring the last 3 times one of my babies left my house. I also think just knowing that this is it and she may never actually live in my home again but always be a visitor just hit me kind of hard.

Okay, enough of the sap and on to the fun stuff! We had no idea what Carly’s room was actually going to look like and after reading lots of horror stories about the cleanliness and the disgusting carpets on parent boards I was nervous. Just the unknown of how move in would actually go made me a little nervous too. We were pleasantly surprised to walk into a space that felt clean with carpet that had definitely been upgraded since the pictures I saw. So much relief!

Her dorm is one of the oldest on campus and it is on the 4th floor with a pitched roof. She has her own bedroom and bathroom with a small common space. The roofline makes for an interesting layout but also gives it a little character.

Carly has a style all her own and definitely did the bulk of the shopping for her decor. If you can’t tell, she loves orange and pink! Her bestie gifted her a custom painting of pistol pete at her grad party and it turned out perfect. She already had the light up sign but spent some time creating a few other customized pieces like the Go Pokes canvas and a bulletin board.

Being able to set up her room and feel like her space was both cozy and functional made my momma heart so happy. Seeing her with her roomate in their new little home gave me so much excitement for the year ahead. We were able to drive away with no tears…..of course partly because I knew I would be back in only a few days for bid day!

I really think part of my emotional roller coaster was just worrying I would miss her and she was going to move on and forget me. I know, I know this is ridiculous! As she headed into recruitment immediately, she shared it with me every day and I was instantly relieved.

After hearing how emotional and stressful recruitment could be I tried to prepare myself to support her the best I could. A friend shared a sorority 101 facebook group which was so helpful for me as a non-greek to really just understand all the rounds and what she would be experiencing. It was a very positive group! Carly honestly had the most postive experience and soaked up all the activities and interaction.

I headed back on Friday and drug my college friend along with me. Carly wanted me to be surprised so she didn’t share her last 2 invites with me and I was on pins and needles until she facetimed me Saturday morning. She was so excited and ready to run home to Chi Omega! After taking lots of pics and having a short parent meeting, we left her to soak up her day with her new sisters!

Saying goodbye again the next day definitely brought a few tears but I know we have prepared her and she is ready. So far this girl has let no grass grow under her feet and is living her best college life! I’m so excited for her to have this experience and am just so stinking proud of her!

So, every day, I go back and stand in her room for a minute and miss her just a bit but I know she is right where she needs to be and so am I. This transition is full of some unknowns and there are nerves but also lots of excitement too.