and she's off
On this trip to Chicago, it dawned on me that historically, August is a month where Big Things Happen in our family.
Some Augusts are amazing: for example, twenty years ago in August, Marcus and I had our white wedding and our honeymoon.
Some Augusts are horrifying: five years ago (to the day, actually), we lost our home to the floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey.
And of course, this August has been all about big hopes and big dreams, as we dropped our daughter off at university to begin creating her new adult life in this lovely city.
(August is a month when we apparently have to brace ourselves, is what I’m saying.)
As I write this, Alex is safely ensconced in her dorm, having squealed with delight upon meeting her roommate face-to-face for the first time (they’d been communicating all summer), and even had a few new friends over to her room for a “dorm-warming” (she and her roommate went door-to-door introducing themselves, resulting in a few of them coming over to hang out in their room their first night). They’re going to be fine.
I’m going to be fine, as well, it seems. I have several friends who are also dropping their kids off at university this year, and we’ve all come to the general consensus that the thing that most affects how you feel when you drop your kid off at college, is how they feel when you drop them off at college. If they’re excited and ready to take a big bite out of their new lives, it makes leaving them worlds easier.
The other thing that made drop-off easier (and this is a pro tip) is that because we arrived early to move Alex in, we had almost a week together to explore and ensure that Alex got acclimated to her new town. This meant, of course, that we got to watch Alex begin to navigate her new life, witness how seriously the school takes the safety and security of the students, and also have some serious together-time on our last family vacation together. Happily, Chicago weather cooperated fully. I’ve always maintained that Chicago is America’s most beautiful city … for three months out of the year. The last week proved me right.
View of the Art Institute of Chicago campus.
Weird coincidence: I took this photo of us on the Chicago architectural boat tour exactly 18 months to the day after I first began blogging. What’s weird about that is that first blog post was about us waiting for our daughter to be born, and it featured a photograph of Marcus and I on — you guessed it — the Chicago architectural boat tour as newlyweds, when we first visited the city. Circle of life, man.
And so, Alex has been officially launched into her new life, and after 18 years, Marcus and I return to our day-to-day life being just the two of us. It’s strange and wonderful and scary and exhilarating all at the same time.
Obligatory Chicago Bean self-portrait.
Marcus and me on our twentieth white-wedding anniversary, celebrated in Chicago.
A little about the new book.