Course Registration Day

I am definitely feeling a little blue and very nostalgic this morning. Our oldest child is at college this morning. It is their orientation experience. The kids were checked in last night at 5. The parents were "shooed" away, and the kids spent the night on campus, getting to know the University a little bit better and meeting other kids who will be majoring in the same field as them. I don't think there are that many kids double majoring in Math and Physics, but they did have a pretty full house when I left last night. I think the commonality there was the Math major. Anyway, the parents are invited to come back on campus this morning at 9, when we will get our own orientation. I'm wondering if they will have a workshop for us entitled "What to do when one of the younger siblings needs help with their math homework". It doesn't seem all that long ago that we were going off to our college orientation. I went to Virginia Tech. My Dad and I went down the night before and stayed at one of the hotels just off campus. We went in early the next morning, and he sat with me through all of the presentations, the course selection, the meetings with the advisors, and a campus tour. I remember him choking up as he said "I really envy you! This will be one of the best experiences of your life. You will always look back on your college years as some of the most meaningful, best, and carefree times of your life. Much of your adult life will be shaped here over the next 4 or 5 years." Personally, I was more excited about moving out of the house and being on my own than I was about the endless opportunities that lay ahead of me. Over the next five years, I suffered wonderful failures. Spectacular dissapointments. I learned much about myself, who I am, and what I truly believe to be important in my life. I found that money isn't everything, and pursuing what you are passionate about is much more important than earning a high salary at a job that you hate. I made life-long friends that I still keep in contact with. No matter where we are, when we get together the years melt away and I could swear we are all 21 again, with our entire lives and a future of possibilities laid out ahead of us. I even met my husband. Honestly, I met him the first semester we were there. And then, I was introduced to him again a year later. We finally met up and became friends our 4th year in college, when we were both singing in the choir. We started dating just months before graduation in our 5th year. Here we are now, 23 years later. I look at my son, and I see the endless world of possibilities laid out ahead of him. I see the lifelong friendships that he will make. I know that he will suffer specatcular failures, and learn more from those than he does from his successes. I also know that, more than anything else, he is looking forward to moving out of the house and being on his own. To be honest, I'm kind of looking forward to him moving out of the house, too.