Our daughter, (our baby!) just accepted her invite to college last night (Go Lumberjacks). I’m still in shock as I write this seeing as I feel like John and I’ve only been out of college (Go Badgers) for like 5 years (turns out it’s 34 – math was not my strongest subject). But of course we’re thrilled for her, it’s all the emotions we go through as parents whose kids are flying out of the proverbial nest: proud, old, scared, old, excited, old. 

And we’ve never done this college adventure in the “normal” way. Our son started college in the fall of 2020 (Go Mountaineers). No graduation, no campus tour, only one person allowed to help him move in. And he was one of the lucky ones; because he chose a smaller university he was able to have classes in person and not be confined to his dorm room. And I got lucky because their winter break was extended to the week before Thanksgiving – January so I had extra time to love on him and he couldn’t leave LOL

Actually this time around won’t exactly be “normal” either – 3 years ago, we randomly decided to leave our home of 20 years and move to a new state where we knew no one. So except for the few family members that will be able to make it out here, we won’t know anyone at the graduation. Very different from our tight mountain community where if we didn’t know everyone, we at least recognized them and most of the girls in her class had been together since preschool.

I guess one of the things I’ve learned along the way is that not normal can turn out to be pretty awesome too. For me, leaning into the unexpected and fully surrendering to the fact that I have zero control in the end, has helped to find the good, even the great in the unfamiliar. I’m going to bring that knowledge into our next life chapter so watch out AARP, we’re bringing the party to you!