Friday, July 31, 2009

College Bound

In June we celebrated my daughter Samantha's high school graduation. Party, presents, friends and family. A milestone in Sam's life, a turning point in mine. My little girl had grown up. We teased about her leaving ..counting down the days till that great day when she'd be moving out...we joked about how we'd change her room into a media center, a crafts room, maybe a reading room... Well, tomorrow the girls an I (Sam and my youngest Caroline) ht the road for one last vacation together. We're headed for the roller coasters of Busch Gardens in Tampa...a mommy-daughters weekend that I'll savor, because when we return, we pack the truck and head to Gainesville. Sam's moving into her new apartment for college! I thought I'd be thrilled to see her finally on her own and now I'm dreading it...I'm already crying about her absence...I'm afraid she'll get hurt, party too much, flunk out etc...everything that I think could go wrong has already happened in my mind. But most importantly, the hole in my heart is already growing. What will I do with out her smiling face? Her incredible wit and personality? Her laugh, her tantrums, her everything? Will she miss me as much? Will she survive without me? ...Oh, before you freak..I know she'll survive, but will I? I guess this is another character builder...I'll have a lot of character when this is all over. I know every mother endures this and I will too...does it get any easier? I guess I'll be spending lots of time in Gator Land...Sam watch out..get that spare couch ready...mom's coming to spend the weekend!

3 comments:

novembergal said...

Jennifer Ross you are the Cat's Meow...Sam is an extremly fortunate daughter to have a beautiful mom like you.

Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Jennifer I am not too far behind you! My son is 16 and I'm getting nervous already about everything you said! I feel for you! But we raise our kids to prepare them to make it on their own, right??? But it's so hard!

Sylva said...

Jennifer.....WOW...my daughter is a Jr @ FSU this year, but reading your story about Sams' "delivery" to college brought back a flood of emotions.....I had the exact same experience....all I can say is that it DOES get better each year...you still miss them, but you realize it's OK.. The phone calls dont decrease, they are just easier to handle and you realize it's all part of the plan.....they get older (my daughter turned 21 3 days ago...ugh!) and,unfortunately, so do we....but we DONT have to act it!!

I'm a little behind at reading blogs (as you can tell) but had to comment on this one as it touched my heart.....you raised her well... cheers!!!