Getting ready..

When I was grocery shopping yesterday, which by the way I hate to do, I picked up a few things for my daughter to take to college that I thought would be useful. I got a box of tissues to use when she is crying so much because she is home sick, a 12-pack of toilet paper because we all know you can never have too much toilet paper which she can also use when the tissues run out from her crying so much, and a box of those cereal n' milk bars that can be a quick substitute for breakfast if she doesn' t have enough time to eat because she spent so much time crying for home and needs to just get herself together enough to get to class.

Honestly, I'm sure there are folks who are gathering supplies to the hilt but I remember the size of the dorm rooms and although they are nicer than the ones I lived in while at Purdue, they are not THAT big.

Some readers (if there are any that read this), might be thinking that I'm going to be an empty nester in a few days and this is hardly a countdown. I'm sticking to my story though that it is not truly an empty nest until the kids have moved away for good (or at least a few years).

I also can tell my daughter will be back often for weekends because she isn't doing what my first one did before leaving for college. That one pretty much packed all the things she treasured most, her favorite clothes and all of her CD's, and had tons to take to college including a really heavy, big trunk (like the ones that are at the bottom of the sea with buried treasure in them). Yes, she was going to college and not looking to come home to visit, unless she had to for the obligatory holiday visit. It isn't that she doesn't love us, she just has been a very independent gal and always more mature than her years. She is now planning a wedding with her boyfriend whom she has lived with for over 2 years, so that puts a definite lid on it.

No, my youngest spent the evening visiting her boyfriend while she only has some things ready and most of them were gifts for going away to college like towels, sheets, storage boxes. She has no plans to pack up her room, so as I sit here smiling, I know she will be back and this blog will be a long Countdown.

5 days to college...