Back at the wheel for the next 3 to 4 hours. Thank god....he who drives controls the music....my nerves are a bit shot from my son's tunes.

Low wooded hills.... we are almost home.

We hit the big river at sunset.....the tiny blip in the distant.....the last granite mountain in this area.

Turning into our street....I have the strange sensation I've been gone for hours....not days.

Mon Casa..........home...........in the fading light.....

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Oh....Iowa....

It's close to 11pm.....and I'm still watching the lightening through the window....a summer storm in the Midwest is an amazing show.

It was a good day.....spent most of it walking around this huge bucolic campus.....with 100 year old trees.....small streams and a classic pond with fat swans....nestled next to old classic brick buildings as well as new contemporary classrooms.

Although Iowa State is a huge school it's so different from Ohio State where I dropped my daughter off 4 years ago.....Iowa State is situated in the cornfields and when we arrived last night....I could smell the sweet scent of cut grass and alfalfa in the air.....in contrast....Ohio State was a very urban campus with much more blight and the problems of big city knocking at the door.

My son and I were good troopers...started the day early....sat in this classroom then this lecture hall....filled out this form......and that form.....and were so efficient ....after he meets with his advisor in the morning....we are cleared to go.....and we will head back home.

He seems excited and happy to start life here....we glimpsed his future dorm room.....we decided a bike is a better idea than a car....and several cute blond Midwestern girls.....gave him the eye (of course I noticed).

And I did my job as mom tonight...shooing him to sleep in the dorm....texting him an encouraging message to join in the bowling and basketball games for orientees this evening.

I am proud to say I only texted one followup.....message.

"R u okay?"

"Yeah."

I wondered how many times I was going to text that message from now on.

I guess.....as long as a Yeah....comes back.....it's a thumb's up.

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Here's Jim......

Not the best of pictures....but here's Jim's truck....he's holding a trophy....he won best trucker of the year.......I rode his coat tails on the freeway for a couple hours.

Me and Jim....playing truck and car tag....and headed north.....I was sad to finally pass him.....wish he put his phone number on the rig.....I would have been brave and called him......cause someone has to tell Jim...mullets ...are very very over.

Hitting the Cornfields......

Holy Shit....I'm la la la-ing......didn't finish unpacking from New York.... and I'm leaving at 7am for the cornfields of Iowa in a few short hours.

Taking my son to college orientation in Ames......which thankfully....is not under water.

I can tell he's excited......yesterday his roommate....a guy from South Dakota....sent him an email....today he got his dorm assignment (he's in an old all male building)......when we arrive......they'll do a counseling and orientation sessions and set up his classes.....plus we'll complete the other necessities to start life up there in August.

He sleeps in the dorm while we're there....I choose to sleep in some student union accomodations they're setting up for the parents....hell....I don't need much.....and I'd rather be on campus so I can walk around when I'm not scheduled for my parent sessions.

The campus is huge....one of those land grant colleges....where they gave a hunk of land to the state and said ...build ye a university....which they did.


You know....I always thought that by the time we reached the third child... all these life changes and milestones would get easier.....the letting go....the find your own life and happiness thing.....

but I swear my heart feels just as constricted tonight as when I first took my daughter to Ohio....it does not get easier....in fact....I think it gets harder....because you know....you really know.....they aren't yours anymore....and this is what all your work amounts to.....the gift to find their own way.

I think he'll fit well up in Iowa....he's got a Midwest corn boy attitude.....solid.....grounded.....calm....positive.....I think this university is a good fit for him. I worry about the challenges he'll face as a young adult up there....but....you just have to let go and hope he makes good decisions....or at least figues out when he's made bad ones.

Now......best find those cans of Starbuck double espressos I hid....and grab some CD;s...cause I know how driving trips go with teens......I get behind the wheel in the morning....and he'll fluff his pillow up and sleep till noon.
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Ahh....the Midwest....and Second Chance University

I grew up in the Midwest....so there' s something comforting about crossing into territory where you can find a Monster Chop for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And those much maligned cornfields.....I actually like them....they're therapeutic....the beautiful monotony...the order...the sense of growth.
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We drove 1601 miles in 4 days. I drove mostly....give a teen boy a pillow....and they're like babies....napping and napping. We have a rule in the car....entitled whomever-drives-controls-the-music....and with my son's taste in heavy metal right now.....it was probably a good thing that I drove most of those miles.

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I am happy to report I did tough it out through 4 of his Cd's....which I dubbed...Satan's greatest hits.....To pass time, I playfully tried to decipher the screams....picking out words like....waistband and pain in a song and attempting to make a logical connection.

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"Hey, are these guys screaming because their waistbands are too tight and they're in pain?"

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My son would roll his eyes...the ever tolerant teenager with his semi-hip mom.

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To his credit....he suffered through an old Whitney Houston CD, a mix of love songs, Coldplay and at least an acceptable old Evanescence CD.

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The college tours were great. They have great marketing campaigns. I was so revved up by the slide show, the cute guys and girls giving peppy talks and the free pencils and decals.......I was ready to sign up as a freshman in engineering.....trust me...you look at three story virtual reality rooms, wind tunnels and solar cars....and you're ready to join a research team.

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Although I try really hard not to regret things in my life....I found myself... pained during some of the pep talks...because I missed so many opportunities in college to be playful. I majored in nursing and let's face it ....it's just not a happy major....big science courses...careplans....dressed and ready for clinic by 6:30am.

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The fun stuff of college....the clubs, the outings, the kegger parties......were always on hold....because the cirrhosis of the liver chapter had to be mastered....or you were spending a quiet evening with an orange and a syringe....so you could master injections....or you were glued to a cassette....trying to distinguish lub dub from the abnormal...lub dub dub....of a heart valve in trouble.

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While he was off talking to counselors....I actually thought how wonderful it would be if they had Second Chance Universities where you could do it all over again and this time know better.

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For example... you could get an annoying roommate ...but this time have the skills to handle her.....you could party till dawn and arrange all your classes to start after 2pm.....you could sign up for courses which require little or no homework and lots of in-class discussion....like the significance of Star Wars or Music appreciation....you could go Skiing during spring break because you could actually now afford a lift ticket....and ....an ultra cute ski bunny snow suit....and study abroad....and sit in cafes drinking small cups of dark coffee while your European friends blew smoke rings above your head.

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And if you had been "too good"in your first go around.....especially in the morals department.....you could always have the joy of sitting at home and watching your husband and childrens' jaws drop .....as they realize the blond woman dancing in front of them on TV in the Girls Gone Wild video clip is .........YOU.

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