On a Personal Note : Exploring College Towns

Spring Break is complete in my part of the world, and I can’t say it was the most memorable one ever, but it could have potentially been the final one where all five of us live under the same roof, which comes with it’s own sort of bittersweetness. My oldest child is graduating this year, and the whole college process has been…. an experience.

Last year, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go to college at all. This year, prompted by his current golf obsession, he is rapid firing applications right and left, talking to coaches at several schools, and has a back up plan in place. He hasn’t requested much help throughout the process which somehow makes me equal parts proud AND anxious. I haven’t felt like I have truly helped him academically in a long while, possibly pre-COVID, which I feel like was a huge blow to education that no one has quite recovered from.

It’s a weird time for teenagers - nothing feels super stable, but, at the same time, for them, it all feels normal-ish and we keep pushing forward down the path of planning a life, a next step. Personally, I would love for any and all of my kids to stay close to home for as long as they want or need, but, he isn’t exactly that type of kid. He isn’t looking at schools or making plans too far away. In fact, staying on the west coast is definitely a big part of his plan, but definitely not at our house. It’s all moving forward, and I am thrilled for it to do so, but also knowing that life as I know it will look very different this time next year!

When I left for my own college experience, it was six hours from home, and I continued to move further and further away as time went on, coming home for that first summer, and then not again, moving to Arkansas after graduation, and then, moving all the way to Oregon. I’m not sure what it will look like on this side of the equation, but I am trying to remain open and keep my mouth (mostly) shut.

This past weekend, we explored a school in Tacoma, Washington, all five of us driving up together, and spending a little time on a campus tour and a little time exploring the city of Tacoma, visiting the local bookstore , a few nearby restaurants, and the local zoo (where the jellyfish picture above was taken), trying to get everyone a little bit of an activity that they liked. When we got back home, we unpacked and all moved to our separate spaces to breathe and recover from the road, settling back in to our normal spaces and activities while time continues its relentless march forward, taking us a little bit farther from each other each day. ❤️