Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding? I bolted so quickly from Williamsburg the second I dropped off my kid (also -- single mom).

I scheduled a girls trip that first week in Vegas with friends. Had a freaking blast. I'm still working and there's plenty of life left in me. I'm 38 and ready for this next chapter! I have a trip to Paris planned and I've already sold my Arlington house and bought a low maintenance row home in the city. It's fantastic!

I don't really know how to feel about your post and your overwhelming joy at sending your kid to college. It just rubs me wrong. Was your DD like a nightmare teen? There is nothing wrong with doing things for yourself, just the opposite, but something just seems off about this.

No, my daughter is an amazing, lovely person. But as a single mom, I put all of energy and time and effort on raising my daughter. I had her fairly young and under less than ideal circumstances, but I love that kid and I love the life we have. I'm just ready for the next stage and I'm not waiting a second to whoop it up and have a little more fun.

I'm ready for the next stage of our relationship. I don't feel bad about that. I feel awesome that I raised a great kid, who's going to a great school, and who has a great head on her shoulders.

But there's another chapter to my life. My life isn't over and I'm excited to embrace that change and see where it takes me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding? I bolted so quickly from Williamsburg the second I dropped off my kid (also -- single mom).

I scheduled a girls trip that first week in Vegas with friends. Had a freaking blast. I'm still working and there's plenty of life left in me. I'm 38 and ready for this next chapter! I have a trip to Paris planned and I've already sold my Arlington house and bought a low maintenance row home in the city. It's fantastic!

I don't really know how to feel about your post and your overwhelming joy at sending your kid to college. It just rubs me wrong. Was your DD like a nightmare teen? There is nothing wrong with doing things for yourself, just the opposite, but something just seems off about this.

There's nothing off about it. She has been parenting every minute of every day by herself. She obviously did a fine job--her child is at college, on a full ride. She spent her 20s being a mom and now it's time for her!
I say there's something more "off" about a mom who can't function normally because they miss their child. As if the child exists to meet the parents' emotional needs.

The university my kid is at assigned move-in times. They then had activities that each wave of move-in kids went to at specific times, so it kept the day moving along and didn't allow for the parents to hang out there too long to draw out the process. I remember it seemed like my parents would never leave when they dropped me off, which just made it harder.

Example, our move-in time was 10:00. When we pulled up, there was a huge group of frat boys and male athletes who ran to each car, loaded a rolling bin cart, and carried everything up to the dorms for us. It just took 1 trip with all the help to get everything up there and we were unpacking by 10:15. So efficient! Got finished unpacking & ran to the grocery store to get some items for the mini fridge & ran by Target to get a few forgotten items. Her time to pick up her books was 11-1, so we grabbed some lunch, drove her to the bookstore, and then headed back to her dorm. Her roommate was in the 1 pm move-in group, so we met them and said our goodbyes because she needed to be at a campus activity at 2 pm.

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding? I bolted so quickly from Williamsburg the second I dropped off my kid (also -- single mom).

I scheduled a girls trip that first week in Vegas with friends. Had a freaking blast. I'm still working and there's plenty of life left in me. I'm 38 and ready for this next chapter! I have a trip to Paris planned and I've already sold my Arlington house and bought a low maintenance row home in the city. It's fantastic!

I don't really know how to feel about your post and your overwhelming joy at sending your kid to college. It just rubs me wrong. Was your DD like a nightmare teen? There is nothing wrong with doing things for yourself, just the opposite, but something just seems off about this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding? I bolted so quickly from Williamsburg the second I dropped off my kid (also -- single mom).

I scheduled a girls trip that first week in Vegas with friends. Had a freaking blast. I'm still working and there's plenty of life left in me. I'm 38 and ready for this next chapter! I have a trip to Paris planned and I've already sold my Arlington house and bought a low maintenance row home in the city. It's fantastic!

Can your DC still get in state tuition if you no longer live in Virginia?

She got a full ride!

I am saving her college fund for grad school since she's interested in medicine (I'm a nurse and she's been around enough hospitals and seen me over the years to build an interest).

My good friend just had a baby a few months ago. I look at her and am like...whooyah. Finished over here, sister. Cute baby, but it's my time now! (Admittedly my good friend spent her 20's and 30's traveling and living an adventurous life that just wasn't in the cards for me at the time (Little money, plus mortgage, plus kid who did activities, plus single mom tax of having to handle this alone = struggling).

We dropped off our daughter a couple weeks ago and it was less emotional than I thought it would be. It helps to hear that she is very happy so far. Actually, the anticipation of the event was the hard part for me. I was much more emotional one year ago thinking about how this was her last year before college and how hard it would be for her to be gone. I still miss her like crazy but it is sort of a relief to get the whole going-to-college thing over with.

I cried the next day at home when I saw some cookies my son loves. It was a good cry . I miss him every second but he is happy and so am I.

Dropped our daughter off about 3 weeks ago. We had a few surprises awaiting us on arrival day, including a closet that was not configured as expected. My daughter's dorm room is at the very end of a hall and had a standard closet as opposed to the built-in closet/drawer unit we expected, so we made a run to Target for a couple of inexpensive collapsible storage boxes to organize what she placed on the closet shelf; otherwise, all went pretty much as planned.

We ended up lofting her bed, so a mini-fridge and her two-drawer dresser could fit underneath. She placed the bed length-wise against the window wall with her desk at the end, allowing her a view of the outdoors while she's studying. The room does not have a/c, but the windows face north and there's plenty of shade from mature trees, so it remains comfortable all day, especially with a small desk fan providing some air movement.

A couple of weeks after move-in, we delivered a bike and a small three-tier rolling cart from IKEA to store her meal supplies (an electric kettle, a set of dishes, utensils, spices, tea, snacks, canned soups, cleaning supplies, etc). It fits under her bed next to the fridge for easy access, and she rolls it down the hall to the dorm kitchen when she wants to cook, so she has everything she needs at hand. (She has a meal plan, but she likes to cook for her hallmates occasionally.)

She designed her space to be fairly compact, which turned out to a very good thing, because despite coming from overseas, her roommate is a borderline hoarder (by dorm standards) who's taken up a whole lot more space than truly necessary. My daughter doesn't seem to mind, though, so it's all worked out. She just keeps to her space and lets her roommate do her own thing.

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding? I bolted so quickly from Williamsburg the second I dropped off my kid (also -- single mom).

I scheduled a girls trip that first week in Vegas with friends. Had a freaking blast. I'm still working and there's plenty of life left in me. I'm 38 and ready for this next chapter! I have a trip to Paris planned and I've already sold my Arlington house and bought a low maintenance row home in the city. It's fantastic!

Can your DC still get in state tuition if you no longer live in Virginia?

+1

I had a good cry when we got home from dropping off DS but felt fine within a few days. He's in a good place and though I miss him, it feels right for him to be off at school.

Are you kidding? I bolted so quickly from Williamsburg the second I dropped off my kid (also -- single mom).

I scheduled a girls trip that first week in Vegas with friends. Had a freaking blast. I'm still working and there's plenty of life left in me. I'm 38 and ready for this next chapter! I have a trip to Paris planned and I've already sold my Arlington house and bought a low maintenance row home in the city. It's fantastic!

I haven't had time to focus on my emotions yet. DC is having a rough transition, so all my focus is towards him. For example,One of his profs refused one of his accommodations ( class notes) and now he has to go up the chain of command to get them.

Anonymous wrote:I just want to say that 19:07's experience really touched my heart.

Mine, too! Grace under pressure -- she's got it.

And your kids were probably the first ones to get care packages. You're amazing.

I just want to say that 19:07's experience really touched my heart.