Part of my Heart Moved Out Today!

It has been a long time since I was upstairs in a girls’ dorm at college. Actually until today, I had never done it.

Today, Diana and I drove Grace, our oldest daughter to Hammond to find her room and get the first part of her thing to the room. She is attending Orientation tomorrow morning and this is better to go now than have to drive a 6:30 in the morning.

Thanks for the consideration Grace.

The one who needs orientation is me. Good thing there were only two other cars on campus at the time we driving around to find her dorm. Grace knew the name but not the location of the dorm. Instead of GPS we had the calm voice of her roommate guiding us to the right location.

Her roommate's name is named Patience. (Grace and Patience in same room..sounds like a spiritual connection to me!)

We drove in and out of 4 different driveways to get the right spot.

My daughters all have the unerring sense of direction of their mother. When you say “Turn right here” there is a 50-50 chance they will get it right. So, finding a 4 story dorm among 20 others similar buildings was going to be quite a chore.

We found the dorm, unloaded everything on the sidewalk and then began to relay it upstairs. Thank God for working elevators.

The room is huge and offers lots of opportunities to move the furniture around to find the right fit. They did so when I foolishly thought we were done. I waited in the lobby for 30 minutes while they sought the Southern Living arrangement that would surely make the cover of the next issue.

Finally, surprise of all surprises…we had to make a last minute trip to Wal-Mart! (I do not even want to know what we had to buy!)

Do you know how many residents of Hammond shop at Wal-Mart on Sunday afternoons? All of them! This would have not happened if the Saints had been on TV!

Finally, back to the dorm to drop off Grace and her roommate, Patience. A lingering look in the mirror as we pulled away. What did I see?

Empty air…Grace did not linger for a look. She was gone faster than the Road Runner.

Though we still have two kids at home, the house is a little emptier…quieter…less joy filled.

It is the parents who need Orientation. It is wasted on the kids.