He moves in to his dorm at 9:30 Thursday morning. We're on the last minute mad dash to get everything done and purchased and organized and packed and planned .... I think the words coming out of his mouth at the moment of this photo were "Mom, really?" I love when he does that! I love that half smile of his, those partly raised eyebrows, that snicker he gets when he asks me that. And he always knows the answer. He knows it before he even asks: "Yes, really."
I can't tell you how many times I've cried tonight, and for the most part, he hasn't witnessed those tears. We had a great laugh earlier in the evening, or at least he did, when a girlfriend of mine thought that move-in day for his group was tomorrow and I freaked and panicked! But no, it's truly not until Thursday.
He'll be right up the road, just one mile. We keep teasing him that we're going to stalk him, keep walking by the university, that we're going to yell out the windows at him when he walks by the house with his friends, that we're going to come crash his dorm room when we need to watch the Weather Channel. He takes it all in stride and laughs. He knows we love him, and he's a good sport. It really will be all right, and we'll all adjust.
But tonight I'm going to cry. And probably tomorrow night, too. And DEFINITELY Thursday night!
Oh, poor Ashley - you must have been a mess when he first went to school! However he does know you love him. My youngest son wouldn't want to be seen dead anywhere near him when he was at school. We had to let him out a block away from the school if we had to go by car for any reason!
