I began this week by taking a road trip to Kent, Ohio. I took my Goddaughter, Apple, to Kent State University (go Flashes) with her mom. We drove up and down the mountains of PA and OH for 5 hours and 45 minutes on a bright, sunny day with little humidity. We had a move in team of six. We laughed, reminisced, carried boxes and containers of clothes, clothes, and more clothes:) We arranged and rearranged her room to ensure that everything fit and had a place. We visited Walmart at least twice a day to get her everything she needed and wanted (I am on Walmart overload. I was glad that the Walmart Super Center had been recently remodeled and looked like the stores on the commercials, not like the realities of Walmart stores I've visited in VA, MD, and DE). We made sure she had everything she needed and then...we left. Everyone thought I was going to cry, but I didn't. I wasn't sad about leaving her. I was excited for her to begin the next leg of life journey.
Kent State University is very large. I went to University of Maryland and people think that campus is big. It's not at all compared to Kent State. Apple is in a "traditional" dorm room with another roommate. The coolest thing is that they have private "rooms" in the larger hall bathroom. The shower, toilet, sink, mirror, bench, and full length mirror are in one "stall" with a door that locks! They are also very big on security. You have to slide your key card to get in everywhere. We even heard the weekly emergency alert system testing while we were there. I'm sure something like that has been in place since the four students were killed and nine students were wounded by the Ohio National Guard during a Vietnam protest held there in 1970. I know a lot of parents felt at ease when they left the children there. Apple's met some nice girls and I think she'll have a great experience.
Kent State University is very large. I went to University of Maryland and people think that campus is big. It's not at all compared to Kent State. Apple is in a "traditional" dorm room with another roommate. The coolest thing is that they have private "rooms" in the larger hall bathroom. The shower, toilet, sink, mirror, bench, and full length mirror are in one "stall" with a door that locks! They are also very big on security. You have to slide your key card to get in everywhere. We even heard the weekly emergency alert system testing while we were there. I'm sure something like that has been in place since the four students were killed and nine students were wounded by the Ohio National Guard during a Vietnam protest held there in 1970. I know a lot of parents felt at ease when they left the children there. Apple's met some nice girls and I think she'll have a great experience.
I was tired after dropping off Apple. We were constantly doing something to make her transition a good one. We must have been running on pure adrenaline. Now, can someone tell me where I'm going to get the energy to take Princess and Juicy Boy to college and set them up the way we did Apple and the way my mother and father did my brother and me? I'm going to be old and tired by then!
2 comments:
That's SO sweet of you to go help with her move-in to college. And those rooms sound heavenly. SO different from what I experienced in college. I wish I'd had something like that!
Los Angelista,
Believe it or not, her dorm room was just like the ones you and I had. They don't even have AC (it gets so cool there that the fan in the window works just fine), but they do have a front loading washer on her floor across from the bathroom. They don't have to make the mad dash downstairs to get their laundry out the washer before someone dumped it on top or worse, swiped it. They also have cable in their rooms! Voicemail is free for their telephones in their rooms:) It's a nice dorm. It's good to hear from you.
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